Evaluation of second line art drugs in the management of hiv-2 cases attending art opd in government medicalcollege and hospital, Aurangabad

Background : HIV‐2 is intrinsically resistant to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase (NNRTI) drugs, Nevirapine and Efavirenz, the mainstay of national first line ART regimen.1 Studies mention that there is no clearly accepted regime for the management of HIV‐2 . Aim of study: To study the response to second –line ART drugs (as prescribed by NACO) in the HIV‐2 cases attending ART center of tertiary care hospital. Method: It is a cross- sectional study. Of the 12906 HIV cases registered in the ART Center of this institute, 16 cases are HIV‐2 cases. In the present study, though the clinical profile of all the 16 has been reported, only 8 of the 16 who have been receiving treatment for more than a year have been studied for response to second line ART. Rise in CD 4 count, weight gain and rise in hemoglobin was calculated and statistical test of significance was applied. Results: There was significant rise in CD4 count (p value of 0.007) and significant gain in weight (p value of 0.015), while change in hemoglobin before and after therapy was not significant. Limitations: As reliable viral load measurement is not yet available for HIV‐2infection,1 the patients’ response has to be judged clinically ,by rise in CD 4 count and weight gain. Conclusion: After statistical analysis, it was observed that there was a significant rise in CD4 count and weight gain after one year of second line therapy. None of these patients developed new opportunistic infections.