Short communication: high prevalence of drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in treatment-naive patients in Greenland

T.V. Madsen, N. Lohse, E.S. Jensen, N. Obel, K. Ladefoged, J. Gerstoft, A.B. Petersen, C. Nielsen, L.B. Jorgensen

    12 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    A molecular epidemiologic study of HIV-1 in Greenland showed distinct transmission clusters correlated with demographic and behavioral data. Resistance mutations were found in a majority of the pol sequences. The objective of the present study was to estimate prevalence of drug resistance in Greenland and identify transmission chains by comparing resistance data with phylogeny and treatment history. Of 60 untreated patients, 15 (25%) had primary resistance mutations. The most prevalent mutations were T69D/N (15%), K70R (15%), and M184V (10%). Four possible transmission chains were identified based on phylogeny and mutation profiles. The clusters consisted of treated and untreated patients and showed the same mutation profiles in both resistance and nonresistance positions. Prevalence of transmitted drug resistance in Greenland (25%) is higher than in Denmark where only 3% transmission was observed. Suboptimal use of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) in Greenland was reflected in the high prevalence of NRTI-related resistance in the patients. A combination of phylogeny and genotypic resistance tests enabled us to study the number of transmissions and how the virus was transmitted. Resistance mutations detected in untreated patients were backed up by the treatment history of index patients in the possible transmission chains and indicated that these drug-resistant variants were in fact transmitted and had not emerged due to unregistered drug intake
    Udgivelsesdato: 2008/8
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalAIDS Research and Human Retroviruses
    Volume24
    Issue number8
    Pages (from-to)1073-1077
    Number of pages4
    ISSN0889-2229
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

    Cite this