A growing number of drug-resistant strains of HIV are a threat to the effectiveness of current treatments despite anti-HIV drug cocktails decreasing the number of HIV-related deaths and improving the quality of life for HIV patients.

Rare, previously undetectable drug-resistant forms of HIV have been identified by Yale School of Medicine researcher Michael Kozal, M.D., using an innovative genome sequencing technology that quickly detects rare viral mutations.

454 Life Sciences, a member of the Roche group, and a Yale School of Medicine researcher announced that they have used the company's Genome Sequencerâ„¢ system to identify previously undetectable rare drug resistant HIV variants in samples from an earlier performed clinical trial.