Nevirapine Can Backfire- HIV Drug Might Spur Resistant Strains Of Virus

A new study done at Stanford University has brought forth a disturbing fact about the drug nevirapine. This drug is actually used in developing countries to prevent transmission of HIVdefine from the mother to her baby.

But research shows that nevirapine already persists in the breast milk and blood of mothers. This can increase the risk of developing drug-resistant strains of HIVdefine in the mother as well as the child.

The study, which was presented on Tuesday at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, looked at 32 HIV-positive women in Zimbabwe. These women were administered a single dose of nevirapine when they went into labour and were not given any other treatment for prevention of HIV.

It was found that two weeks after delivery, more than half of the women still had a noticeable amount of the drug in their blood. Plus, two-thirds of the women had measurable levels of nevirapine in their breast milk. The Stanford researchers said that if the drug stays in the body for a longer period of time, the possibility of developing drug-resistant mutations increases manifold.

Principal investigator Dr. David Katzenstein, a professor of infectious disease, said in a Stanford release, “In the short term, nevirapine is better than nothing. But in the long term, I’m concerned about conferring resistance. If you’re talking about resistance on a broad scale, it could jeopardise future treatment for mothers and infants.”

The study proves that it is important to use a combination therapy in order to treat HIV infected pregnant women. This can help in providing better prevention for the infant as well as the mother. Study author Dr. Seble Kassaye, an instructor in infectious diseases said that access to better antiretroviral treatment would help reduce the risk of the development of drug-resistant HIV.