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British HIV patients show increasing drug resistance

Posted on: Thursday, 17 November 2005, 19:07 CST

LONDON (Reuters) - People infected with the HIV virus in Britain have one of the highest levels of drug resistance in the world, and the rate is increasing, researchers said on Friday.

The trend suggests a wave of infections from a drug resistant strain of the virus may be on the way, they said in a study published in the British Medical Journal.

The report by the UK Group on Transmitted HIV Drug Resistance warned that the reduction in effective drugs to treat patients represented "a major clinical and public health problem."

Their research was based on 2,357 HIV positive patients between 1996 and 2003.

They found that 335 patients showed some degree of resistance to one or more of the antiretroviral drugs used to fight the HIV virus, which can lead to AIDS.

Most, 257 of them, were resistant to drugs in one class only, 44 were resistant to drugs within two classes and 34 were resistant to drugs in the three most commonly used drug classes.

The study said this was equivalent to a 14 percent rate of resistance over the whole time period, rising to 19 percent for the most recent year of the study, 2002-3.

This is higher than in other industrialized countries.

Drug resistance is estimated at 7 percent among chronically infected HIV patients in the United States, with a 6 percent resistance in France and 10 percent elsewhere in Europe.

Source: REUTERS

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