Aggressive HIV-1?

Ben Berkhout,Lia Van Der Hoek,Anthony De Ronde

doi:10.1186/1742-4690-2-13

Abstract

New York City health officials announced on February 11, 2005 that a patient rapidly developed full-blown AIDS shortly after being diagnosed with a rare, drug-resistant strain of HIV-1. The New York City Department of Health issued an alert to all hospitals and doctors and a press conference was held to announce the emergence of an aggressive HIV-1 strain that may be difficult to treat and that appears to trigger rapid progression to AIDS. Is the panic justified?

Highlights

Overall, this case seems relatively rare but not necessarily alarming
Drug-resistant HIV-1 variants usually have reduced replication capacity compared to a wild-type virus due to the mutations in the Reverse Transcriptase and Protease enzymes [9]
This loss in replication fitness may be even larger for a multi-drug resistant virus [10]

Summary

Introduction

This case seems relatively rare but not necessarily alarming. Increased attention is not necessarily bad, but press conferences should be reserved for situations when a cluster of such transmissions is apparent. Drug-resistant HIV-1 variants usually have reduced replication capacity compared to a wild-type virus due to the mutations in the Reverse Transcriptase and Protease enzymes [9]. This loss in replication fitness may be even larger for a multi-drug resistant virus [10].

Results

Conclusion