Patterns of drug resistance among newly diagnosed HIV-1 infected patients in Greece during the last decade: the crucial role of transmission networks

Introduction: The prevalence of drug resistance is approximately 10% in Europe and North America among newly infected patients.We aim to investigate the temporal patterns of resistance among drug naive HIV-infected individuals in Greece and also to determine transmission networking among those with resistant strains. Materials and Methods: Protease (PR) and partial reverse transcriptase (RT) sequences were determined from 2499 newly diagnosed HIV-1 patients, in Greece, during 20032013. Genotypic drug resistance was estimated using the HIVdb: Genotypic Resistance Interpretation Algorithm. We identified transmission clusters of resistant strains on the basis of a large collection of HIV-1 sequences from 4024 seropositives in Greece. Phylodynamic analysis was performed using a Bayesian method.