20% HIV affected people in South India resistant to ARV drugs: study

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dear Forum members

We see that it is important that ARV drug regimens are

prescribed, administered and taken correctly. The

first treatment is the best chance to bring the virus

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Phi Huynhdo

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20% HIV affected people in South India resistant to

ARV drugs: study

Monday, September 12, 2005 08:00 IST

Gireesh Babu, Chennai

Twenty per cent of the HIV-1 affected AntiRetroViral

(ARV) naïve individuals in South India have drug

resistance, according to a study conducted by experts

under YRG care centre for AIDS Research and Education

in Chennai.

The study conducted by a group of experts say that the

failure of ARV therapy has developed drug resistance

in HIV-1 affected patients, and the resistance will be

transmitted with the virus to other individuals. The

study shows that 20% of the HIV-1 cases have to be

treated by second line drugs, which are intended for

patients with drug resistance. The project was to

determine the prevalence of mutations at protease and

reverse transcriptase drug resistance positions in ARV

naïve individuals in Southern India.

Among the study samples of 50 HIV-1 infected

drug-naïve individuals, 10 (20%) had mutations at

known major subtype B protease drug resistance

positions and all had mutations in minor subtype B

protease drug resistance positions. In the reverse

transcriptase, 8 (16%) persons had mutations at known

subtype B drug resistance positions, 3 (6%) persons

had at Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor

(NRTI) and 7 (14%) at Non Nucleoside Reverse

Transcriptase Inhibitor (NNRTI). Two persons (4%) had

mutations at NRTI and NNRTI subtype B drug resistance

positions.

Although these mutations are associated with

treatment, they are commonly encountered in naïve

patients, particularly in those infected with non-B

subtypes, according to the study. Nevertheless, the

study assures that the contemporary subtype C viruses

in Southern India are not likely exhibit high levels

of drug resistance.

The study mentions that although HIV-1 drug resistance

is usually acquired during failure of ARV therapy,

drug resistance strains are also transmitted between

individuals with the virus. In the United States and

Europe, nearly 10% of new infections are due to HIV-1

isolates harbouring resistance to at least one or the

three classes of anti-HIV drugs and the study shows

that the rate of drug resistant cases continues to

increase.

Larger scale studies are needed to better define the

genotype variation of circulating Indian subtype C

viruses and their potential impact on drug

susceptibility and clinical outcome in treated

individuals, the experts opined.

The study was conducted by Dr. Suniti , Dr. P

Balakrishnan, Dr. N Kumarasamy and Dr.S.Vidya of

Y.R.G.Care Centre for AIDS Research and Education,

Chennai, Dr. H Mayer, Dr. Newstein, Dr.

Bharat Ramaratnam of Division of Infectious Diseases,

Dept. of Medicine, Brown University Medical School,

Rhode Island, Dr. Rami Kantor and Dr.

Katzenstein of Division of Infectious Diseases,

Stanford University, California and Dr. Sadras P

Thyagarajan, Dept. of Microbiology, University of

Madras, Chennai.

http://www.pharmabiz.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=29346§ionid=