{"id":4855,"date":"2025-01-01T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/?page_id=4855"},"modified":"2025-01-20T14:41:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T14:41:50","slug":"blips","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/changing\/blips","title":{"rendered":"Viral load blips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-15453\" src=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ChangingJan2025COVER.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"144\" height=\"201\" \/>Viral load blips are very common.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A blip is when viral load result is detectable but at a very low level. If checked with a second test, this is usually undetectable again, without any need to change treatment. See Figure 1.<\/p>\n<p>Most blips are not even detected. This is because viral load is usually only tested once or twice a year.<\/p>\n<p>Blip results are usually defined as becoming detectable but staying under 200 copies\/mL. But some blips can go above 500 or even 1000 copies\/mL. They then go back to being undetectable.<\/p>\n<p>Many very low blip results are just lab errors. If the test cut off is 50 copies\/mL, there is no difference between being less than 50 and less than 80. If the undetectable cut off is 20 copies\/mL, there is no difference between less than 20 and less than 30 etc.<\/p>\n<p>They can happen with perfect adherence.<\/p>\n<p>Low level blips can be caused by other infections. For example, flu or an STI. A healthy response to a vaccine (such as flu or COVID-19) can also cause a blip.<\/p>\n<h4>Figure 1. Viral load blips<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7805\" src=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/changing-graphs-2013-Fig-6b-300x200.png\" alt=\"Graphs showing viral laod rising above 50 then falling below 50\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/changing-graphs-2013-Fig-6b-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/changing-graphs-2013-Fig-6b-448x300.png 448w, https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/changing-graphs-2013-Fig-6b.png 658w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>A single blip result is common. It does NOT mean you need to change treatment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A blip is undetectable again on the second test.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Please compare blips to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/changing\/confirmed-rebound\">confirmed viral rebound<\/a> <\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Viral load blips are very common. A blip is when viral load result is detectable but at a very low level. If checked with a second test, this is usually undetectable again, without any need to change treatment. See Figure &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":10,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-guides.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4855","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4855"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18424,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4855\/revisions\/18424"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}