ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The prevalence of HIV drug resistance mutations in drug-naive patients has been shown to differ with geographic origin. The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of transmitted antiretroviral drug resistance mutations in drug-naive patients in Korea. METHODS: Genotypic resistance was determined by the use of the Viroseq Genotyping System in 42 antiretroviral treatment naive HIV-infected patients between March 2005 and July 2006. Transmitted drug resistance was estimated according to the IAS-USA 2005 definition, taking into account only major mutations in the protease and all mutations in the reverse transcriptase, including revertant mutations at codon 215. RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 42 years and 37 (88%) were male. The median CD4+T cell count was 136/mm3 and the mean plasma RNA level was 4.98 log copies/mL. Among 42 patients studied, 37 (88%) were newly diagnosed patients. None of the patients were recent seroconverters; 38 patients (90%) were infected with subtype B and 4 patients were infected (10%) with the non-B subtype strains (2 patients with CRF01-AE 1 as CRF02-AG; 1 patient with subtype A). Of the 42 subjects tested, we found 2 (4.8%) mutations in NRTI (V118I), but did not find a mutation in NNRTI as well as in the PI region. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of transmitted antiretroviral drug resistance in drug-naive patients is still low in Korean patients.