PPTCT and Single Dose Nevirapine- Major Concern

[Guest guest]

Dear All, I would like to share my concern over the possibility of development of resistance of HIV virus against one of the most commonly used first line drug of NNRTI group, i.e. Nevirapine due to our PPTCT programme under which we are giving single dose of the said drug to pregnant mothers during labour and single dose to the newly born. Different studies have shown that single dose therapy can lead to resistance against the said drug in 19% to 29% of cases. We all know that now HAART is the cornerstone of HIV/AIDS and preferably it has to be used in pregnancy also. As Nevirapine is one of the most common and cost wise cheap drug used in Line 1 regimen, any resistance against that drug may creat a major difficulty in 2-3 years in the management of AIDS cases. (The Ugandan HIVNET 012 study of Single dose intrapartum/newborn NVP for prevention of PPTCT found that 19% of women developed resistance to the drug.) Dr Diwakar Tejaswi MBBS(Gold Medalist); MCH; FCCP; Ph.D. Medical Director Regional AIDS Training Center and Network in India (RATNEI) International Health Oranization B-33, Indirapuri Colony Patna 800014 India __________________________________________________