August 2002

Drug-Resistant HIV Cases Triple

Susan Little of the University of California-San Diego and colleagues have found that the number of people newly infected with a strain of HIV that is already resistant to at least one antiretroviral drug more than tripled between 1995, when the rate was 3.4%, and 2000, when the rate was 12.4%. The frequency of multidrug resistance rose from 1.1% to 6.2% for the same period and was most commonly found in men having sex with men. The researchers said the figures represent a “conservative” estimate because they used the most “stringent” standards when defining drug resistance. Under more relaxed guidelines, they said, up to 20% of newly infected patients may have drug-resistant HIV.

The research team collected blood samples from 377 newly infected patients at 10 clinics in North America between 1995 and 2000. The study was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (Aug. 8, 2002).