Significant Amount of HIVers Show Drug Resistance

As many as 15% of people with HIV have a form of the virus that contains at least one drug-resistant mutation.

According to a study of 10,056 HIVers in Europe and the U.S., 90% of patients had no transmitted drug-resistance, Health Day News reports. Nearly 10% of those on prescribed medications, including combination antiretroviral therapy, had at least one mutation.

The study, published in The Lancet, indicates that those who have a resistance to at least one drug were three times as likely to experience treatment failure, confirming "the need for at least three fully active antiretroviral drugs to optimize the virological response to a first-line regimen," the researchers wrote.