HIV Drug Resistance
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HIV Drug Resistance
Charles Farthing (Chief of Medicine, AIDS Healthcare Foundation) gives expert video advice on: How do I prevent HIV drug resistance? and more...
What is HIV 'drug resistance'?
HIV drug resistance just means that the HIV has developed resistance and can grow in the presence of one or more of the anti-retro viral drugs. This virus has a tremendous capacity to develop resistance mainly because it mutates very, very, rapidly, and as it divides it makes lots of genetic mistakes which throw up lots of different types of viruses. Some of those types will grow in the presence of the drugs and then you have HIV drug resistance.
How do doctors test for HIV drug resistance?
We can test for HIV drug resistance with tests called genotypes or phenotypes. The genotype test looks at the genetics of the virus to see if the virus has developed mutations of certain genes, which we have come to know are associated with resistance to certain HIV drugs. The phenotype test grows the virus in the laboratory in the presence of the HIV drugs to see if they no longer work. And if they no longer work in the laboratory against the HIV virus, then the virus is resistant.