{"id":233,"date":"2024-11-01T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/new\/guides\/?page_id=233"},"modified":"2024-11-22T23:10:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T23:10:01","slug":"resistance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/starting\/resistance","title":{"rendered":"What is drug resistance?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/files\/2009\/06\/strong-virus.png\" alt=\"Resistance\" width=\"150\" height=\"131\" \/>Drug resistance occurs when the virus changes its structure in a way that stops a drug from working. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>These changes are called drug mutations. <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Resistance only develops if you are on treatment or in the short period after stopping treatment.<\/li>\n<li>The risk of resistance increases when drug levels drop below a minimum active level. This usually only occurs if you miss doses or stop treatment. (See <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/starting\/missed-dose\">A missed or late dose increases the risk of resistance<\/a><\/strong>).<\/li>\n<li>You can be infected (or reinfected) with drug resistant HIV.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>About 1 in 10 people in the UK were infected with HIV that is resistant to at least one drug.<\/p>\n<p>This is why in the UK everyone should have a resistance test when they are diagnosed and before starting ART.<\/p>\n<p>But you may need to ask for this test, so it is important to check.<\/p>\n<h2>When does resistance occur?<\/h2>\n<p>Mutations that cause drug resistance generally only develop when you have a detectable viral load on ART.<\/p>\n<p>If your viral load is still above 500 copies\/mL after 2-3 months, or above 50 copies\/mL after 6 months, you can develop resistance.<\/p>\n<p>If your viral load increases on ART this can also cause drug resistance.<\/p>\n<p>Your doctor should look for why this happened. This will involve talking about adherence and side effects.<\/p>\n<p>You might need a drug resistance test or to check your drug levels.<\/p>\n<h2>What happens if my viral load becomes detectable again?<\/h2>\n<p>If your viral load becomes detectable, the viral load test needs to be repeated within 2-4 weeks of the first blood sample.<\/p>\n<p>Often this is a laboratory or test error. Small increases that go back down again are called \u2018blips\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The second test will help find out what is happening. If the combination is failing it is good to confirm this early.<\/p>\n<p>You will get a better response to a second treatment if you change when viral load levels are still low.<\/p>\n<p>See the i-Base <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/changing\">Guide to changing treatment and drug resistance<\/a><\/strong> for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drug resistance occurs when the virus changes its structure in a way that stops a drug from working. These changes are called drug mutations. Resistance only develops if you are on treatment or in the short period after stopping treatment. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1547,"menu_order":41,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-guides.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-233","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17734,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/233\/revisions\/17734"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}