Question
Is it important to get a resistance test after being diagnosed?
16 November 2007. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Newly diagnosed, Resistance.
I was diagnosed in September and my CD4 count was 420 and viral load was 32,000 but I didn’t get a resistance test.
How important in this as I read in your combination therapy guide that I should get one?
Answer
BHIVA (British HIV Association) guidelines recommend routine use of resistance test in anyone who is newly diagnosed.
In people who have been HIV positive for several years already, then they recommend having a resistance test before starting treatment.
This is in case you were infected with a resistant strain of HIV. Without the information from the test, you could chose the wrong drugs when you come to start treatment, and the treatment would be at a higher risk of failing.
The EuroGuidelines HIV resistance Group has set out guidelines on use of HIV resistance testing in selecting HIV therapy.
If your clinic didn’t test you, go back and ask them again – and include the information from this post.
We have heard of several clinics who only provide the test when patients go back and ask.
You should get one when you are first diagnosed because you can have a mutation that will not be detected after time as the virus can appear to revert back to wild type. This does not mean that the mutation is not present but that it is not the dominant form of HIV in your body. If you started treatment this mutation would quickly re-emerge and you could find that you become resistant to more drugs as you do not have a potent enough combination.