Objective: To examine the number of patients with HIV/AIDS treated in area hospitals specializing in AIDS treatment in Japan.
Material and Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to the 365 area hospitals specializing in AIDS treatment by mail from April through June in 2001. We asked the number of HIV-infected persons and AIDS cases treated in the hospital on April 1, 2001 according to route of infection (infected through blood products/other routes) and nationality (Japanese/non-Japanese).
Results: Of the 365 hospitals, 347 (95%) responded. The total number of patients was 4097, which included 2964 HIV-infected persons and 1133 AIDS cases. Among the 4097 patients, 984 patients were infected through blood products, and as for patients infected by other routes, the number of patients among Japanese was 2663 while 450 were non-Japanese. One hundred and nineteen hospitals (34%) treated no patients, while 3% of the hospitals treated fifty or more. The numbers of patients infected through blood products in our study are nearly the same as those obtained from a national survey of patients infected with HIV by blood products. Because the reported number in the national survey is considered to be very accurate, it is suggested our results reflect the number of patients with HIV/AIDS treated in all the hospitals in Japan almost perfectly. However, the numbers of patients infected through other routes in our study were smaller than the estimates obtained from the surveillance report of HIV/AIDS. This is because among Japanese HIV-infected persons, not a few patients stop visiting hospitals after a diagnosis of HIV infection.
Conclusion: About four thousands and one hundred HIV/AIDS patients were under treatment in Japan. There existed substantial variation in the number of patients treated among the hospitals. Not a few patients discontinued hospital visits after a diagnosis of HIV infection.

View full abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to point out some problems with the certificate of disability by comparing the opinions of those infected with HIV to those of others suffering hidden disability.
Material and Methods: the opinions of 398 participants who were classified as having hidden disabilities under “research on the certification of disability”, were analyzed by cross table, factor analysis, and analysis of factor models.
Results: the results were 1) cross table analysis showed a significant difference between HIV-infected and internal disabilities for the items “name of disability” and “picture of owner of the certificate”. 2) the item “name of disability” belonged to both factors of “disability of persons” and “attribute of persons” in case of internal disabilities, but it belonged to the factor of “disability of persons” in case of HIV-infection. 3) the item “picture of owner of the certification” belonged to the factor of “attribute of persons” in case of internal disabilities but it belonged to both factors in case of HIV-infection.
Conclusion: Problems with the current certificate of disability for the HIV-infected were specifications of the certificate which infringed on the owner's privacy, and social system use of the certificate which would not identify persons who present the certificate as its owner in a short time without excessive privacy. It is appropriate to the measures to retain the factor of “attribute of persons” which identifies the presenter as the owner, and to reduce effects of the factor of “disability of persons” to a minimum. Measures against the function of the latter factor would not exist enlarger the function of the former factor, because no correlation between the two factors.

View full abstract

Case: There have been few reports on virological effect as observed through changes in viral DNA or mRNA burdens in HIV-1 infected cells during the interruption of highly active anti-retroviral therapies (HAART). We observed a patient with HIV-1 infection who was obliged to stop anti-retroviral drugs suddenly. After periodically measuring viral DNA and mRNA burdens in peripheral blood nuclear cells after stopping anti-retroviral drugs, we discussed the safety of interrupting HARRT in chronic HIV-1 infected patients.
Reselts: Although his plasma viral loads (VLs) were sustained at 3 weeks, they rapidly increased from an undetectable level to 2.2×10⁶ copies/ml at 4 weeks, and his viral mRNA and DNA burdens also increased. After medication was restarted, VL, viral mRNA and DNA burdens all decreased again to the levels indicated before the interruption.
Discussion: Well-controlled patients undergoing HAART may avoid virological failure even if their drugs are stopped for a certain period. Our data suggested that short-term interruption of HAART could be applied to patients with chronic HIV-1 infection in some situations.

View full abstract