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HIV developing resistance to most common drugs

Friday, 29 January 2016 2:45 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 29 January 2016 3:07 PM ]

Resistance to HIV drugs rising worlwide

A new study shows that drug resistance against HIV is increasing and this is a problem that concerns not just the poorest nations of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, but developed and wealthy nations.

Researchers say that when a patient's virus becomes resistant to first-line drugs, the next stage is an expensive second-line treatment with greater side effects.

They found that in Africa, 60% patients were resistant to Tenofovir, the most commonly used HIV prevention and treatment drug. The figure was just 20% in Europe. Researchers looked at patients who were given Tenofovir between 1998 and 2015, but the treatment failed.

"If the right levels of the drug are not taken, as in they are too low or not regularly maintained, the virus can overcome the drug and become resistant," Dr Gupta, lead author of study, told the BBC News website.

"Tenofovir is a critical part of our armamentarium against HIV, so it is extremely concerning to see such a high level of resistance to this drug," he added.

Meanwhile, doctors say high risk individuals can transmit drug resistance to multiple other people, setting up mini epidemics of drug resistance to HIV.

"We certainly cannot dismiss the possibility that resistant strains can spread between people and should not be complacent. We are now conducting further studies to get a more detailed picture of how Tenofovir-resistant viruses develop and spread," Dr Gupta said.

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