home





























 

















 





















hrsa

participating institutions:
Johns Hopkins University AIDS Service, New York State DOH AIDS Institute, The CORE Center, Cook County Hospital



NEWS AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS



Postexposure Prophylaxis for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection after Sexual or Injection Drug Use Exposure: Identification and Characterization of the Source of Exposure [Roland ME et al. JID 2001;184:1608] The authors from San Francisco report their experience with non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis. Among 401 patients, there were 64 (16%) who recruited a source subject. Of these 64 source subjects, 69% were currently using antiretroviral drugs and 46% had sufficient viral loads for resistance testing. All treatment naïve subjects had wild-type virus that was pan-sensitive. Resistance was detected in many of these subjects receiving antiretroviral drugs and this generally correlated with the drugs being taken. The authors conclude that the history of antiretroviral drugs from source patients can be used to predict drug resistance in the selection of a postexposure prophylaxis regimen.
Comment: These results should be anticipated, but it is nice to see them confirmed. The conclusions would appear to be applicable to both occupational and non-occupational HIV exposures. Resistance can obviously not be verified in patients with low viral loads, but this is a setting in which transmission is probably unlikely.
posted 1/14/2002





Copyright © 2001-2002. The National AIDS Education and Training Centers Program on behalf of its AETC National Resource Center. All rights reserved.

Physicians and other health care professionals are encouraged to consult other sources and confirm the information contained in this site because no single reference or service can take the place of medical training, education, and experience. Consumers are cautioned that this site is not intended to provide medical advice about any specific medical condition they may have or treatment they may need, and they are encouraged to call or see their physician or other health care provider promptly with any health related questions they may have.