Occasional detectable viral loads in otherwise fully suppressed HIV patients'typically referred to as viral 'blips''are common and are not signs of the development of drug-resistant virus, researchers reported at the 44th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents.
The effects of viral blips were evaluated in a study of 10 HIV patients with undetectable virus who had their blood-based HIV levels assessed three times a week for three to four months. Nine of the 10 experienced blips during the course of the study, with a median frequency of 0.67 per month. Genetic tests showed no development of new mutations that would indicate the onset of drug resistance during the blip periods.
'Our results suggest that most but not all patients intermittently experience low-level detectable viremia in a setting of sustained suppression,' the researchers conclude. 'Blips do not necessarily result from or result in resistant virus.'
