Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia, Inc.; Tuesday May 5, 11:15 pm EST

The survey found that 43 percent of HIV patients polled admitted that they did not take all of their drugs as prescribed -- even though multi-drug cocktails have been shown to keep the virus at bay when taken properly.

When patients do not take their drugs properly, the virus can quickly mutate into drug-resistant forms.

"Resistance to HIV medications can quickly occur because of inadequate drug combinations or inadequate adherence to therapy," Dr. Joel Gallant, an AIDS researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in a statement. "Even mild degrees of noncompliance can lead to resistance. Once resistant strains of HIV are present, the patient's treatment options are narrowed and sometimes entirely exhausted."

The telephone survey of 665 people infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS was conducted by Johnston, Zabor and associates on behalf of Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical company (MRK - news).

It found that doctors have even less faith in their HIV patients. The 100 doctors surveyed estimated that 54 percent of their patients do not take their medicine properly.

The findings could explain why while clinical tests have shown that drug cocktails can suppress the virus to unmeasurable levels in the body and keep patients well, the plan does not always work in the real world.

Most people do know that the drugs work if used properly -- 93 percent, according to the survey. But more than a quarter, 26 percent, admitted they had failed to take their drugs as directed just the day before they were questioned, and 43 percent admitted to it in the week before.

And some do not even buy their drugs, let alone take them. The doctors surveyed estimated that six percent of prescriptions they write for HIV drugs are never filled.

According to the survey, patients are giving themselves drug holidays -- taking themselves off the drugs for anywhere between a few days to several weeks. Twenty-three percent of the patients said they had done this.

The average drug holiday was two weeks, long enough for some symptoms to start coming back. Most of the doctors, 84 percent, said they limited who they gave certain drugs to because of this.

Patients who do not take drugs properly affect more than themselves. If the virus they are infected with becomes resistant to certain drugs, they can pass that resistant strain on to others.

Doctors and patients alike complain that the current regime of HIV drugs is hard to stick to. Patients must take sometimes dozens of pills a day, at set times, some with food, some without, and side-effects include nausea and diarrhea.

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Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1998. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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