Primary Infection with Zidovudine-Resistant Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1

Abstract

Strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) with reduced sensitivity to zidovudine have been isolated from patients treated with this drug for six months or more¹. Resistance to zidovudine is associated with late-stage disease, low CD4 lymphocyte counts, longer antiretroviral therapy, and specific mutations in the reverse transcriptase gene of HIV-1^2,3. The clinical importance of infections with resistant HIV-1 isolates is not well understood. We describe a patient with symptomatic HIV-1 infection who had primary infection with a virus resistant to zidovudine, according to both phenotypic and genotypic analyses.