There is a low incidence of resistant viruses in Norway
There is still a low incidence of viruses that are resistant to drugs in Norway.
The exception is hepatitis C virus, where mutations associated with resistance have been detected in a high proportion of the viruses that have been studied. It is uncertain what these mutations mean in practice, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) writes in a press release (link in Norwegian).
“We can assume that the incidence of some of these may partly reduce the effect of antiviral treatment, but still, most patients will have a very good effect from the treatment,” Anne-Marte Bakken Kran at NIPH says.
The annual report from the Norwegian Surveillance System for Antiviral Resistance (RAVN) also shows that the use of so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which is an HIV preventive treatment for people at high risk of infection, has not contributed to creating more resistance.
“These are good news. PrEP has proven to be an effective tool in the work to prevent HIV infection in risk groups. It’s therefore important to document that this use does not appear to lead to a reduced effect of the drugs used in the treatment of HIV infection,” Kran says.
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Translated by Alette Bjordal Gjellesvik.
Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
