RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers at Duke University Medical Center have developed a test to identify which drug-resistant strains of HIV are in a patient's bloodstream.
As a result, doctors may be able to guide patient care by predicting if a patient is likely to develop a resistance to a particular HIV drug, Feng Gao, one of the developers, said in a news release. Drug resistance is one of the most common reasons why HIV therapy for fails.
The test, which detects genetic mutations in HIV, also could help scientists understand how the evolving virus develops its resistance to drugs, Gao said. Such knowledge could result in scientists developing new treatments designed to evade resistance, he said.
"The viral populations found in the blood of one patient can be very different from the populations present in another," Gao said. "Which resistant viruses are at hand can have important implications for the successful treatment of that patient."
The test also can detect when a virus molecule more than one mutation, Gao said.
The findings will be published in the February edition of Nature Methods.
