[Mutations of resistance of HIV-1 in previously untreated patients at penitentiary centers of the Autonomous Community of Valencia, Spain. REPRICOVA study]

Prevalence of HIV-1 drug resistance mutations among Spanish prison inmates

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to analyse the prevalence of HIV-1 drug-resistance mutations among HIV-1-infected prison inmates in Spain. Treatment-naive and treatment-experienced patients with an HIV RNA viral load of >/=2,000 copies/ml were included. To ensure that the study population was representative of the entire HIV-infected Spanish inmate population, a two-stage conglomerate for selection of the sample was used. In the first stage, 15 prisons were randomly selected, and in the second stage, 38 patients (30 treatment-experienced and 8 treatment-naive) per centre were randomly selected. Genotyping was performed by automatic sequencing. Resistance testing was performed on viral strains from 184 inmates from 12 prisons. Valid sequences were obtained from 133 inmates (90 treatment-experienced and 43 treatment-naive inmates). Most (92.5%) were men and had acquired HIV infection by intravenous drug use (91%); their mean age was 35 years. One or more key resistance mutations were detected in 5 (11.6%) treatment-naive and in 35 (38.6%) treatment-experienced patients. Among treatment-naive and treatment-experienced patients, resistance to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors was found in 3 (6.9%) and in 20 (22.2%) patients, respectively, resistance to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in 3 (6.9%) and in 21 (23.3%) patients, and resistance to protease inhibitors in 3 (6.9%) and in 14 (15.5%) patients. Multidrug resistance was detected in 1 of the 43 (2.3%) treatment-naive patients. These findings support the use of resistance testing in HIV-infected inmates who must begin antiretroviral therapy, given the high rate of primary resistance to drugs frequently included in the initial treatment regimens.

Resistencias primarias de VIH en una población penitenciaria. Estudio REPRICOVA-2

INTRODUCTION

Currently, there are few reports on primary human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drug resistance in the prison population.

METHODS

This is a descriptive, one-day prevalence study to identify HIV drug-resistant mutations in chronically infected treatment-naïve prisoners. Systematic randomized sampling was performed and genotyping was done by automatic sequencing.

RESULTS

A total of 90 patients were studied. Two samples were found to have nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)-resistant mutations, four had non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-resistant mutations and one had protease inhibitor (PI)-resistant mutations.

CONCLUSIONS

There was a low rate of primary resistance in our series. Therefore, resistance testing is not required before prescribing initial antiretroviral therapy in these patients.