Testing hair samples to track HIV medication use

Researchers want to find a better way to check whether people with HIV are taking their medications correctly. Right now, doctors mainly rely on blood tests or what patients tell them, but these methods can miss when someone isn't taking their medicine between doctor visits. This study explores whether testing a sample of your hair could be a more reliable way to detect medication use over time, specifically looking at two common HIV drugs: emtricitabine and lamivudine.

Many people with HIV don't take their medications exactly as prescribed, which can lead to treatment failure and drug resistance. Current methods for checking medication use—like blood tests—only show what happened in the last few days, so they can miss gaps in taking medicine between appointments. Hair samples could potentially show medication use over several months, which would give doctors a much clearer picture of real-world adherence.