A patient prescribed highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is flying to a wedding and will be gone 1 day. The patient asks about skipping prescribed drug doses that day in order to avoid having to show them all at the airport

What is the nurse's best response? a. "Yes, just one day off your drugs will not make any difference."
b. "Yes, as long as you avoid direct contact with anyone who is ill."
c. "No, even one day off the drugs can help the virus become drug resistant."
d. "No, even one day off the drugs increases the chance that you can spread the dis-ease."


C
An important issue with HAART is the development of drug-resistant mutations in the human immunodeficiency virus organism. When resistance develops, viral replication is no longer sup-pressed by the drugs. Several factors contribute to the development of drug resistance to HAART, with the most important being missed doses of drugs. When doses are missed, the blood concentrations become lower than what is needed to inhibit viral replication, allowing the virus to replicate and produce new viruses that are resistant to the drugs being used.

Nursing

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