Latent Drug-Resistant HIV Harbored for Years
Thu May 13, 2004 03:17 PM ET
By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite a successful response to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), drug resistant strains of HIV are still found in blood cells of patients who have previously shown drug resistance, according to Belgian researchers.
"We were able to show that all drug-resistant HIV-1 variants that arise during therapy failure remain archived in the cells of the infected person for a very long period of time--at least 7 years and most probably much longer, lead investigator Dr. Chris Verhofstede told Reuters Health. This occurred "even if drug pressure was removed or if a patient subsequently responded well to a new drug combination."
As reported in the April 15th issue of the Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes, Verhofstede and colleagues from Ghent University Hospital studied 11 patients who had had success with HAART for mean of 59 months. All patients also had a history of receiving suboptimal therapy and had previously developed drug resistance.
Article: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5137258