Short Communication: Limited HIV Pretreatment Drug Resistance Among Adults Attending Free Antiretroviral Therapy Clinic of Pune, India

• Published in: AIDS research and human retroviruses Vol. 32; no. 4; p. 377
• Main Authors: Karade, Santosh, Patil, Ajit A, Ghate, Manisha, Kulkarni, Smita S, Kurle, Swarali N, Risbud, Arun R, Rewari, Bharat B, Gangakhedkar, Raman R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-04-2016
• Subjects: Adult; Anti-Retroviral Agents - therapeutic use; Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; Cross-Sectional Studies; Drug Resistance, Viral; Female; HIV - drug effects; HIV - genetics; HIV - isolation & purification; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HIV Infections - virology; Humans; India - epidemiology; Male; Mutation, Missense; pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus - genetics; Prevalence
• ISSN: 1931-8405
• DOI: 10.1089/aid.2015.0277

In India, the roll out of the free antiretroviral therapy (ART) program completed a decade of its initiation in 2014. The success of first-line ART is influenced by prevalence of HIV pretreatment drug resistance (PDR) in the population. In this cross-sectional study, we sought to determine the prevalence of PDR among adults attending the state-sponsored free ART clinic in Pune in western India. Fifty-two individuals eligible for ART as per national guidelines with median CD4 cell count of 253 cells/mm(3) (inter quartile range: 149-326) were recruited between January 2014 and April 2015. Population-based sequencing of partial pol gene sequences from plasma specimen revealed predominant HIV-1 subtype C infection (96.15%) and presence of single-drug resistance mutations against non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor in two sequences. The study supports the need for periodic surveillance, when offering PDR testing at individual level is not feasible.