The trend of transmitted drug resistance in newly diagnosed antiretroviral-naive HIV/AIDS patients during 1999-2012 in South Korea.
The use of antiretroviral drugs has reduced the mortality and morbidity of patients with HIV/AIDS. More than 20 antiretroviral drugs have been used in patients with HIV/AIDS since zidovudine was first introduced in 1991 in South Korea.



To investigate and estimate the annual prevalence of transmitted drug resistance and drug-resistant variants of HIV-1 in newly diagnosed antiretroviral-naive patients in South Korea during 1999-2012.



Plasma specimens were collected from 928 antiretroviral-naive patients during 1999-2012. Mutations in the protease and reverse transcriptase sections of the HIV-1 pol gene were identified using the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database (Stanford DB).



Among 928 HIV-1 isolates from antiretroviral-naive patients, 45 (4.8%) showed 'intermediate' or 'resistant' drug resistance. The predicted prevalence of drug resistance among isolates was 2.2%, 2.7%, and 0.3% for resistance to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, and protease inhibitors, respectively.



There was no significant increase in the prevalence of drug resistance among antiretroviral-naive patients infected with HIV-1 during 1999-2012 in South Korea, although there was a slight increase during 2009-2012. The emergence of drug-resistant variants will continue to be monitored by national surveys.
Division of AIDS, Department of Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health South Korea, The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Republic of Korea.
Mina
M
Park
Division of AIDS, Department of Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health South Korea, The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Republic of Korea.
Mee-Kyung
MK
Kee
Division of AIDS, Department of Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health South Korea, The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Republic of Korea.
JeeEun
J
Rhee
Division of AIDS, Department of Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health South Korea, The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Republic of Korea.
Ji-Young
JY
Park
Division of AIDS, Department of Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health South Korea, The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Republic of Korea.
Sung Soon
SS
Kim
Division of AIDS, Department of Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health South Korea, The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Republic of Korea.
Chun
C
Kang
Division of AIDS, Department of Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health South Korea, The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: juyeon.choi.hb@gmail.com.
Ju-Yeon
JY
Choi
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D016333:HIV Protease / Q000235:genetics; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase / Q000235:genetics; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; C514824:reverse transcriptase, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase; D016333:HIV Protease
HIV-1 pol; NNRTI; NRTI; PI; Transmitted resistance