Question

My viral load is very low, what can i do?

1 June 2015. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load.

My doctor has said that my viral load is very low. What can i do or eat to make it go up again?

Answer

Answer: Robin Jakob

Hi,

It is good news that your viral load is very low. Your viral load tells you how much HIV is in your blood. This means the lower it is the better! Getting this to ‘undetectable’ is the main aim of HIV treatment. This means that the virus is at such a low level it is difficult to find. Having an undetectable viral load means that the chances passing on HIV is extremely low. This is true even when not using condoms.

Your CD4 count is the number that you want to be as high as possible. Your CD4 count is the number of a certain type of white bloods cells (CD4)  that are in a small amount of your blood. This number shows you how well your immune system is doing. The higher your CD4 count the better.

You can find more information about CD4 count and viral load on our website.

And more detailed information about how they are related in one of our training manuals.