A survey for transmitted HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) was conducted according to WHO guidelines among clients newly diagnosed with HIV-1 infection at two voluntary counseling and testing centers (VCTC) in Mumbai. HIVDR testing was performed using the ViroSeq RT-PCR method (Abbott). Out of 50 successfully amplified and sequenced specimens, analysis of the first 34 consecutively collected specimens revealed no nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, or protease inhibitor mutations from the 2007 WHO list of mutations for surveillance of transmitted HIVDR, indicating that the prevalence of transmitted HIVDR to all three drug classes was <5% among recently infected VCTC clients in Mumbai. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that all samples belonged to HIV-1 subtype C. Continued ART program monitoring and further evaluation of transmitted HIV drug resistance in coming years are essential in Mumbai as well as in other regions of the country in which ART is being scaled up rapidly.

Background Routine viral-load (VL) measurements along with enhanced adherence counselling (EAC) are recommended to achieve virological suppression among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society along with Mé decins Sans Frontières has provided routine VL measurements and EAC to PLHA on ART at King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital, Mumbai since October-2016. This study aims to describe the initial VL results and impact of EAC on viral suppression and factors associated with initial viral non-suppression among patients with an initial detectable VL, in a cohort of patients tested between October-2016 and September-2018. Methods This is a descriptive study of PLHA on ART who received VL testing and EAC during October-2016 to September-2018. Log-binomial regression was used to identify factors associated with a high VL. Results Among 3849 PLHA who underwent VL testing, 1603(42%) were female and median age was 42 years (IQR:35-48). Majority were referred for routine testing (3432(89%)) and clinical/immunological failure (233(6%)). Overall, 3402(88%) PLHA had suppressed VL at initial testing. Among 3432 tested for routine monitoring, 3141(92%) had VL suppressed. Of 291 with VL>1000c/ml, 253(87%) received EAC and after repeat VL, 70(28%) had VL<1000c/ ml. Among 233 referred for clinical/immunological failure, 122(52%) had VL>1000c/ml and 109 have been switched to second-line ART. CD4 count<500 (aOR-5.0[95%CI 3.8-6.5]), on ART for<5 years (aOR-1.5[1.1-2.0]) and age<15 years (aOR-5.2[3.0-8.9]) were associated with an initial VL>1000c/ml. Factors

In HIV-infected individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART), the decision on when to switch from first-line to second-line therapy is dictated by treatment failure, and this can be measured in three ways: clinically, immunologically, and virologically. While viral load (VL) decreases and CD4 cell increases typically occur together after starting ART, discordant responses may be seen. Hence the current study was designed to determine the immunological and virological response to ART and to evaluate the utility of immunological response to predict virological failure. All treatment-naive HIV-positive individuals aged > 18 years who were eligible for ART were enrolled and assessed at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months clinically and by CD4 cell count and viral load estimations. The patients were categorized as showing concordant favorable (CF

Introduction. Burden of HIV in pregnant women follows overall epidemic in India. Hence, it is imperative that prevalence calculations in this group be accurate. The present study was carried out to determine prevalence of HIV in pregnant women attending our hospital, to determine trend of HIV infection and to compare our results with reported prevalence. Methods. All pregnant women are routinely counselled for HIV testing using opt-out strategy. Year-wise positivity and trend were determined in these patients over a period of five years. The positivity in different age groups was determined. Results. 31,609 women were tested of which 279 (0.88%) were positive. Positivity showed a declining trend over study period and significant quadratic trend (biphasic, P < 0.05) was observed. The positivity in older age group ≥35 years (1.64%) was significantly more than younger age groups (0.76% in 15–24-year and 0.94% in 25–34-year age group) (P = 0.0052). Conclusion. A significant decline in HIV positivity was seen over the study period. Taking into account heterogeneous nature of HIV epidemic even within the same district, analysis at local levels especially using the prevention of parent to child transmission of HIV program data is critical for HIV programming and resource allocation.

Purpose: For commencement of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), CD4 count and/or WHO clinical staging is used as the guide in India. In western countries along with clinical and immunological criteria, HIV-1 viral load is also used to start the patient on treatment. The present study was conducted to determine the role of viral load in taking decision on ART commencement in HIV-1 infected treatment naïve individuals. Method: A cross sectional study was carried out at the Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre (ICTC) in the Department of Microbiology at a Tertiary care teaching hospital after Institutional Ethics Committee approval. After obtaining written informed consent, HIV-1 infected patients who were clinically asymptomatic, ART naïve, having CD4 count <250 cells/mm3 and age more than or equal to 15 yrs were enrolled in this study. Blood sample was collected and viral load was estimated by COBAS^® TaqMan^® HIV-1 Test. Result: During the study period of one year, 8966 HIV-1 infected patients were referred for CD4 count estimation. Of these 1624 patients had CD4 count <250 cells/mm3 and 405 patients were treatment naïve. Of these 96 (23.70%) patients were clinically asymptomatic and were enrolled. Of those enrolled, ten (10.41%) had viral load less than 5000 copies/ml. Conclusion: Decision to start patient on ART can be made judiciously when viral load is used along with CD4 count estimation