Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

HIV is a virus that impairs the immune system by destroying white blood cells. If left untreated, HIV can cause Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and have deadly consequences. Today, there are more than 85,000 Canadians living with HIV and more than 36 million individuals globally infected. HIV can be treated using a combination of drugs, a treatment method known as "Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy". This combinational form of treatment prevents AIDS and HIV transmission to others. Unfortunately, HIV can become resistant to one or more of the drugs within combinational treatment. Drug resistance occurs by random changes (mutations) in the genetic material of HIV. Some mutations can lead to drug resistance resulting in treatment failure and progression of HIV disease in patients. Drug resistant HIV can also be transmitted to other individuals. Individuals who start HIV treatment with drug resistant HIV have fewer treatment options in their lifetime. In certain low- and middle-income countries in the world, such as Uganda, pretreatment drug resistance to widely used drugs called nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors are found in >10% of adults and children starting HIV treatment for the first time. Current drug resistance tests detect resistance mutations present in the majority of the HIV population found in an individual. However, low frequency drug resistance mutations not commonly detected using standard resistance tests have been suspected to affect how individuals respond to HIV treatment. Our study uses a deep-sequencing methodology to detect pretreatment low frequency drug resistance mutations in Uganda. We will investigate the prevalence of pretreatment low frequency drug resistance mutations and determine whether their presence has an impact on how individuals respond treatment. Treating HIV has both individual and public health benefits, and low frequency drug resistance may be a key factor in a patient's response to treatment.