Thursday, October 23, 2008

China: HIV Resistance to Drugs

Resistance of HIV to drugs is increasing in China, Zhiwei Chen, director of the University of Hong Kong’s AIDS Institute, has said. Only seven of the more than 20 antiretroviral drugs on the market are available in China.

"The drug resistant mutations are not unique to Chinese people and therefore are consistent with those found in other countries," he said. "However, the frequency of drug resistance after two years of treatment is high. The unique feature is that a significant portion of treated patients have developed AIDS due to the drug resistant mutations and the lack of second line drugs."

At the same time, he said, the profile of China’s epidemic was changing as infections are spreading beyond historically high risk groups and into the general population, including vertical transmission from mother to child.

Research published in Nature (doi:10.1038/455609a) by Professor Chen and colleagues from China and the . . . [Full text of this article]

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