Prevalence of drug-resistant mutations in newly diagnosed drug-naïve HIV-1-infected individuals in a treatment site in the Waterberg district, Limpopo province

Aim. We studied the prevalence of resistance mutations in drugnaïve HIV-infected individuals at the Bela-Bela treatment site to gather information on the presence of antiretroviral (ARV) drug-resistant viruses in drug-naïve populations, so as to improve treatment guidance. Subjects and methods. Drug-naïve HIV-1-infected individuals were sequentially recruited between February 2008 and December 2008 from individuals visiting the voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services of the Bela-Bela HIV/AIDS Wellness Clinic. Viral subtyping was done by phylogenetic analysis; drug-resistant mutations were determined according to the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Interpretation and the International AIDS Society-USA Guidelines. Results. A drug-resistant mutation prevalence of 3.5% (95% confidence interval 0.019796 - 0.119077) comprising Y181C and L33F was observed; 98% of the viruses were HIV-1 subtype C on the protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) gene regions. Conclusion. The prevalence of drug-resistant mutations in drugnaïve persons may be low in Bela-Bela after 8 years of access to antiretroviral treatment (ART), and resistance testing before initiating treatment may not be needed.