Currently, almost 40 percent of all pregnant women in this country are infected with HIV, and about a third of the their babies are subsequently infected at birth or through breastfeeding. Seventy percent of these children do not live past the age of two. The most affected are the able and economically active members of society. We must all do more. In addition, researchers at the Harvard AIDS Institute will work jointly with those at McGill University Center in Montreal, Canada, to perform specific drug resistance testing of the HIV-1C virus before and during treatment.
Viruses become resistant to drugs because they constantly mutate.
The mutation process and the effect of drugs on that process are thought to vary from one subtype, or clade to another. Each subtype has a unique geographic distribution. Subtype C is the most genetically variable of the subtypes and seems to be spreading globally with the greatest speed. Unfortunately, these resistant viruses are easily spread by sexual contact. Armed with this ability they will help accelerate general understanding of subtype C and lead to ways to stop its rapid progress.