A case report of 40 patients with HIV in São Bernardo do Campo with previous antiviral drug resistance, enfuvirtide antiretroviral treatment and treatment failure

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection leads to T CD4+ cell depletion with progressive immune dysfunction, and despite benefits of antiretroviral therapy, if not judiciously used, it leads to the emergence of drug resistance. In this study, we evaluated 40 patients with HIV that enrolled the Unique Health System-SUS and pharmacy of Medical Specialties Clinic of Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The enrolled patients were treated with enfuvirtide after treatment failure for HIV by the use of reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), non-nucleoside inhibitors of transcriptase reverse (TTRNN) and protease inhibitors (PI). The effectiveness of enfuvirtide treatment was evaluated through viral RNA quantification, T CD4+ cell count and patient’s clinical manifestations. Our results show that all patients presented viral load reduction after treatment and the reduction seen during enfuvirtide treatment occurred under the first 6 months of treatment. All patients reported to be satisfied with enfuvirtide therapy, however discontinuation of enfuvirtide treatment once and more than once in the previous week was observed due to adverse reactions involving cutaneous signs and digestive symptoms, suggesting, in this case, the presence of a favorable situation towards the development of drug resistance. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.17525/vrr.v17i1-2.58