21/08/03

HIV drug resistance ‘not linked to poor medication use’

By: Erika Check

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>HIV drug resistance ‘not linked to poor medication use’</h1>
<h4>By: Erika Check</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>Drug companies often argue that people in the developing world make poor use of HIV medicines, promoting drug resistance by failing to complete their treatment course. But new research shows that this is incorrect. </P><br />
<P>US researcher David Bangsberg and colleagues found that if drugs have not controlled the virus it will mutate more — and develop more resistance — the more the patient continues to take medicines. What is needed, they say, is access to the most effective drugs as soon after diagnosis as possible, to control the virus before it has a chance to mutate.  </P><br />
<P>Other research has found that patients in the developing world follow their doctor’s instructions as closely as anyone else.  </P><br />
<P><a href="http://www.nature.com/login/scidev_login.taf?ref=/nature/journal/v424/n6951/full/424866a_fs.html" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to <em>Nature</em> news story</A> </P>Reference: <em>Nature</em> 424, 866 (2003)</p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/hiv-drug-resistance-not-linked-to-poor-medication/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/hiv-drug-resistance-not-linked-to-poor-medication/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Drug companies often argue that people in the developing world make poor use of HIV medicines, promoting drug resistance by failing to complete their treatment course. But new research shows that this is incorrect.

US researcher David Bangsberg and colleagues found that if drugs have not controlled the virus it will mutate more — and develop more resistance — the more the patient continues to take medicines. What is needed, they say, is access to the most effective drugs as soon after diagnosis as possible, to control the virus before it has a chance to mutate.

Other research has found that patients in the developing world follow their doctor’s instructions as closely as anyone else.

Link to Nature news story

Reference: Nature 424, 866 (2003)