Emergence Of HIV-1 Drug Resistance Mutations in Patients After 12 Months of Antiretroviral Therapy

Abstract

The United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2013 set an ambitious target of 90-90-90, thus 90% of all people living with HIV must have been diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed put on treatment and 90% of the patients on treatment must achieve viral suppression. The commonest cause of therapeutic failure in HIV patients is the presence of drug resistance mutations. This leads to viral rebound, reduction in CD4 count, and predisposes the patients to opportunistic infections. In addition, chances of transmission increase as a result of increased viral load. Occasionally, viruses carrying drug resistant mutations are transmitted from one person to the other. This study sought to investigate the emergence of HIV drug resistance mutations in protease and reverse transcriptase genes, twelve months after starting antiretroviral treatment.