Study Reports Drug-Resistant Strains Have Increased to 14 Percent Among New HIV Cases

A new study of nine U.S. and Canadian cities from Dr. Susan J. Little of the University of California at San Diego indicates that drug-resistant strains of HIV have increased to 14 percent among newly infected individuals. The report, presented at the Eighth Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Chicago, revealed increased resistance in a group of 394 individuals who, because they had flu-like symptoms, were diagnosed as having HIV and treated within three months of infection. According to Dr. Little, resistance to one or more drugs was identified in 14 percent of the participants between 1999 and May 2000, up from 3.5 percent between 1995 and 1998. Furthermore, resistance to two or more of the three classes of AIDS drugs rose to 5.8 percent during the 1999 to 2000 period, up from 0.4 percent between 1995 and 1998. Dr. Little suggested that all newly infected people be tested for drug resistance, even if they do not plan to start drug treatment for a while, because the testing could help track the prevalence of resistant strains geographically for public health purposes.