Drug-Resistant HIV Rare in Treatment-Naive Pregnant Women in S. Africa
Originally published by Reuters Health, June 26, 2002
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Genetic mutations associated with drug resistance in reverse transcriptase sequences are rare among isolates of HIV-1 subtype C obtained from untreated pregnant women in South Africa, according to researchers there. Therefore, antiretroviral drug therapy is likely be highly effective in this population.
In the year 2000, Dr. Candice Pillay, of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, and colleagues obtained 52 blood samples from drug-naive pregnant women infected with HIV-1. They were able to amplify viral sequences from 37 samples, which they analyzed for drug resistance mutations in the reverse transcriptase region.
All sequences belonged to HIV-1 subgroup C, the researchers report in the May 20th issue of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. None of the sequences harbored any of 23 mutations associated with resistance to zidovudine, lamivudine, didanosine, stavudine, nevirapine or multiple nucleosides. Thus, the authors note, these isolates should be fully sensitive to these drugs.
Three patients harbored the A98S and the V179I polymorphisms, and three harbored the V118I polymorphism. There was also a great deal of variation between amino acids 123 and 272. Dr. Pillay and her associates point out that "naturally occurring subtype-specific polymorphisms may predispose some viruses to develop drug-resistant mutations more rapidly," but whether this is true for subtype C virus is unknown.
