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La resistencia a la terapia anti-retroviral constituye uno de los problemas fundamentales en el éxito del tratamiento, en los pacientes infectados con virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana, al igual que las toxicidades y los problemas de adherencia. La resistencia ha sido un problema creciente en los últimos años, y se estudia a través de pruebas genotípicas y fenotípicas. La información que proporcionan estos estudios, resulta una herramienta crucial en la clínica a la hora de instaurar el tratamiento más apropiado. Sin embargo, la interpretación del genotipo es compleja y está sujeta a cambios frecuentes, tanto por la incorporación de nuevos fármacos, como también por la actualización en los patrones de resistencia. Esta revisión tiene por objetivo, la comprensión de los aspectos fundamentales de la resistencia a los anti-retrovirales (ARVs), donde se analizan los principios generales, mecanismos y patrones de resistencia, tanto para las familias tradicionales de ARVs, como para las nuevas familias.

Background: The main cause of virological failure during AIDS treatment is the resistance to antiretroviral medications (ARV). Aim: To search for mutations associated with ARV resistance in recently HIV-1 infected patients naïve to treatment, in Chile. Material and Methods: Patients over 18 years old with HIV-1 infection, naïve to antiretroviral drugs before the study were included. Patients with CD4 cell counts less than 200 cells/mm³, viral load below 2.000 copies/mL or any condition indicative of advanced AIDS were excluded. Criteria for diagnosis of recent infection (< 18 months) were a previous negative test for HIV antibodies or a history of an acute retroviral syndrome in the past 18 months. Resistance to drugs was analyzed using the TRUGENEtm HIV-1 assay from Bayer and the OpenGene DNA sequencing system. Results: Ninety nine percent of patients had at least one mutation, 27% had 4 or more mutations, but high level resistance to ARV was found only in 2.7% of cases. Point mutations for non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) were detected in 4.1% of cases (K103N in 1 patient, V179D in 2 patients), for nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) in 8.1% of cases (T215S in 1 patient, V118I in 4 patients, M41L in 1 patient) and for protease inhibitors (PI) in 1.3% of cases. All mutations detected in the protease gene were secondary. Of these, the most common were L63P/T (38 patients), L10I/V (27 patients) and V77I (26 patients). Resistance to two or more antiretroviral classes was not detected. Conclusions: This study supports that, by now, primary resistance has a low prevalence in Chile. Therefore, a genotyping test before starting antiretroviral therapy is not necessary.

Background: Immunotherapy can be used to treat allergic reactions to insect stings, specially bees and wasps. Aim: To report the experience with immunotherapy with aqueous extracts of hymenoptera venoms (bees and wasps). Material and methods: Ten patients aged 6 to 58 years were treated in an allergy center of a University Clinical Hospital. The medical indication for this treatment was, in all patients, anaphylactic reactions after hymenoptera stings. Immunotherapy was carried out using standardized vaccines (Aqueous extracts Venomvac LETI, Spain), applied in a traditional protocol, with subcutaneous injections. This protocol had two phases: a buildup phase (between weeks 1 and 13) and a monthly maintenance phase, from the 13th week. The monthly maintenance dose was 100 fig of hymenoptera specific venom extract. Results: Six patients had adverse reactions of different severity, during the treatment protocols and all had a good response to immediate therapeutic measures. After these events, they followed the protocol without problems. Two patients, treated with bee vaccines, suffered an accidental bee sting during the maintenance phase and they developed only local reactions. Conclusions: The lack of adverse reactions to bee stings in these two patients indicates the acquisition of clinical tolerance