Background The highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) has increased survival of patients with HIV/AIDS. However, some individuals may present therapeutic failure due to a variety of factors, including transmitted antiretroviral resistance. Thus, the objective of the study was investigate frequency of primary resistance and recent infection among HIV-1 seropositive individuals at five Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centers (VCT) at Metropolitan Region of Recife in Northeast of Brazil.

Methods For RNA transcription to cDNA and PCR amplification with genetic sequencing of the product was carried out using the TRUGENE^® HIV-1 Genotyping Assay. The sequences were analysed using the software OpenGene^® DNA Sequencing System and ARV resistance mutations and subtypes were submitted to the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database and further confirmed by SIMPLOT v.2. The BED Calypte^® assay was carried out for detection of recent HIV infection.

Results A total of 130 samples were analysed. Most participants were males (56%) and aged 31–50 years. Median T CD4+ lymphocyte was 408 cells/mm³ and viral load was 3,683 copies/ml. Primary resistance rate was 4.6%. Recent infection rate was 23%. Mutations associated with resistance to NNRTI, NRTI and PIs occurred in 3.84%, 1.53% and 0.77%, respectively.

Conclusions The present study showed that 4.6% of the strains had transmitted antiretroviral resistance mutations, which coincides with the low resistance rates that have been found in Brazil. Despite a high prevalence of recent infection, there were no significant differences in the prevalence of mutations between the recent and chronic infection groups (p = 0.327).