PMID- 25411830 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20151102 LR - 20181113 IS - 1931-8405 (Electronic) IS - 0889-2229 (Print) IS - 0889-2229 (Linking) VI - 31 IP - 2 DP - 2015 Feb TI - Low rate of transmitted drug resistance may indicate low access to antiretroviral treatment in Maranhao State, northeast Brazil. PG - 250-4 LID - 10.1089/aid.2014.0261 [doi] AB - The Brazilian AIDS epidemic is characterized by significant geographic contrasts: a reduction in incidence and mortality in the epicenter (southeast) and an increase in the northeast. HIV-1-transmitted drug resistance (TDR) and genetic diversity were investigated among 106 antiretroviral (ARV)-naive patients from Maranhao State, northeast. The HIV-1 protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) regions were sequenced; subtypes were assigned by REGA/phylogenetic analysis. TDR to the nucleoside/nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI/NNRTI) and protease inhibitor (PI) was identified by the Calibrated Population Resistance tool (Stanford). The median age was 31 years (range 18-72), with 54.7% women, 78.3% heterosexual transmission, and 17.9% men who have sex with men (MSM). Around 30% had <350 CD4(+) T cells/mul and 47.2% had plasma viral loads