Antiretroviral drug resistance among patients with human immunodeficiency virus who act as sources or potential sources in occupational accidents involving healthcare workers.

Objective: To determine human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 genotypic antiretroviral drug resistance profiles of patients presenting a risk or potential risk for occupational exposure of healthcare workers.

Design: Observational survey involving HIV-infected patients. Blood samples collected from source-patients and potential source-patients underwent HIV-1 genotypic antiretroviral resistance testing and determination of CD4 counts and viral load. Affected healthcare workers were monitored for 6 months after exposure.

Setting: The survey was conducted in a tertiary-care hospital located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Sao Paulo is considered the epicenter of the HIV-acquired immunodeficiency (AIDS) virus epidemic in Brazil.

Participants: Source-patients, potential source-patients, and affected healthcare workers.

Results: A total of 371 occupational exposures to biological materials were reported, 46 (12.3%) of which were from HIV-seropositive source-patients. Samples from 18 source-patients and 26 patients considered "potential sources for accidents" were analyzed. Of these 44 samples, 18 (41%) presented resistance-related mutations in reverse transcriptase, protease, or both. Of these 18 samples, 16 (89%) had resistance to drugs included in the prophylactic schedule recommended by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

Conclusions: Use of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Brazilian post-exposure prophylaxis regimen will result in the administration of antiretroviral agents to which the source HIV-1 isolate will often be resistant. Therefore, it would be advisable to carefully investigate the history of use of antiretroviral agents by source-patients and adjust the prophylactic therapy based on those data and, subsequently, the results of resistance testing.