Can Drug-Resistance Tests Be Used to Choose a New Drug Regimen After an Initial One Fails?
Yes. Viral load tests can help determine whether or not drug failure is occurring, but resistance tests may play an invaluable role in helping you and your doctor understand why failure has occurred and what treatment options are still available. If viral load fails to become undetectable or becomes detectable again after being undetectable, resistance testing may help determine the cause. If no mutations are present (using genotypic assays) or the HIV is still sensitive to the drugs you’re taking (using phenotypic assays), the problem might be poor adherence or poor absorption. It’s best to resolve these problems before resistance mutations develop. If mutations are found or HIV is determined to be losing sensitivity to the drugs being used, resistance tests can help determine which of the remaining antiretrovirals might be effective. Without resistance tests, it’s recommended that anyone who appears to be failing a combination should switch to an entirely new batch of drugs. This can
Related Questions
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- Should nucleic acid tests (direct virus tests) for HIV, HBV, and HCV be used as initial, screening tests for recipients of BTS tissues?
- Can Drug-Resistance Tests Be Used to Choose a New Drug Regimen After an Initial One Fails?
