Question
What is the possibility someone re-infected with HIV to go on new medication that will work for them again?
17 October 2008. Related: All topics, HIV transmission, Resistance.
Assuming someone living with HIV gets re-infected, what is the possibility he or she can go on new medication that will work for them again?
Answer
This depends on the resistance profile of the person. The resistance in a case like that will be determined via a genotype resistance test. It is a test that checks for certain changes (mutations) on the surface of the virus. Those changes can predict whether some medications will work, not work or partially work against the virus the person has.
There are cases when some people’s virus is resistant to one medication (fairly rarely, usually it is against the whole class), against a whole class, several classes and, unfortunately, there are also people who are multi-drug resistant. In their cases treatment is quite complicated, ususally many drugs are included in the treatment combination and sometimes medications that are not fully approved yet.