title: Antiretroviral therapy voluntarily taken at half-dosage, but fully effective after 6-10 years: a provocative issue for adherence requirements: case report.
abstract: Aim of our report is to discuss some key adherence features in the real world, by reporting two exceptional patients, who deliberately took all antiretroviral medications at half-dosage compared with standard prescriptions, and maintained a fully stable and sustained virological and immunological response after 6-10 consecutive years. The potential causes and consequences of this apparent misconduct of our patients on drug tolerability, resistance development, compliance monitoring, direct drug delivery, and health care providers behavior, are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Bologna Alma Mater Studiorum, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Bologna, Italy. Roberto.manfredi@unibo.it
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Manfredi
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sabbatani
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calza
mesh_terms: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents