Rapid decline in the efficiency of HIV drug resistance genotyping from dried blood spots (DBS) and dried plasma spots (DPS) stored at 37 degrees C and high humidity.

We show that resistance testing from DBS and DPS is severely compromised after 2 and 1 weeks of storage at 37 degrees C/100% humidity with desiccant, respectively. These findings underscore the importance of temperature and humidity for the efficient genotyping of HIV-1 from DBS and DPS, and reiterate the need to rapidly transport specimens from collection sites to locations that have appropriate storage conditions such as -20 degrees C.