The widespread availability of antiretroviral therapy has made the fight against HIV a great deal easier. But like a horse without a rider, these medications can't go the distance alone. Working closely with your doctor, you'll need to choose and monitor your treatment carefully. This is because of obstacles that can arise before and during treatment—one of the most important is HIV drug resistance.
Fortunately, we now know a lot about how to reduce the risk of drug resistance and treat drug-resistant virus. We also have access to important technologies that look for drug-resistant virus and help us make important treatment decisions. These drug-resistance tests have become a routine part of HIV care.
This lesson explains what drug resistance is and how drug-resistance tests work, including the role they play in improving the success of antiretroviral therapy.
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