Why does Public Health track HIV drug resistance?
Public Health tracks HIV drug resistance among people who have not started HIV treatment. This helps Public Health learn what kind of HIV is being transmitted, how common drug resistance is, and which drugs might become less useful over time. This information helps medical providers prescribe HIV therapy more effectively. Is there more drug resistance happening? The longer people live with HIV, the longer they are taking HIV drugs. As more people use more HIV drugs, the chance of drug resistance increases. Over time, there will be a larger pool of people who might have HIV that is harder to treat and who may pass HIV to others. Also, regional testing for resistance is not comprehensive and has not been conducted steadily since 2000. There are likely to be more cases than the ones we have been found. We are likely to find more cases of resistance now that we are looking harder for them. Does this mean that people with MDR HIV will not be able to get treatment? No. Some antiretrovirals m
