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Drug sensitivity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolates after ribavirin therapy
R Bernier1, M Tremblay, C Tsoukas
1Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Montreal, Canada.
Abstract:
The antiviral agent ribavirin is effective against several virally induced diseases, and there is evidence that it might prove useful against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Thus, there is interest in studying the resistance level of HIV-1 isolates to ribavirin following drug therapy. Low-passage clinical strains of HIV-1 were isolated from 3 patients undergoing treatment with ribavirin for 5-9 months. No significant changes in drug sensitivity were seen for sequential virus samples obtained before, during, and after antiviral therapy. These observations suggest that the appearance of a resistant phenotype is not induced by treatment with ribavirin in HIV-1-infected persons.