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Study warns of AIDS drug resistance

    JOHANNESBURG

    The efficacy of HIV/AIDS drugs could be rendered useless in developing countries due to their unregulated supply, a study has found.

    The recently published report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said the problem threatened to accelerate the development of drug-resistant HIV strains.

    "These drugs are not being used according to the correct regimens ... we see evidence of that both from Zimbabwe and Uganda, and I'm sure it's happening in other countries too," author of the study, Dr Ruairi Brugha, said.

    Brugha also found that some patients were changing medication frequently, taking the wrong dose, or stopping treatment during periods when they could not afford it.

    He said these were exactly the set of conditions the HI virus needed to quickly become drug-resistant.

    More details:
    http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmj;326/7403/1382

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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