Question
Are HIV and exercise induced urticaria linked?
7 September 2016. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, HIV transmission.
I was diagnosed in April the year with a viral load of 6000 – which means that I was probably positive for longer. I have also developed exercise induced urticaria in the last one year. My body heats up and i get lots of hives when i exercise. Given that both have happened at roughly the same time, I am wondering if there is any evidence of a link between the two?
Answer
Hi there,
Thanks for your question.
I am not aware of any association between HIV transmission and exercise induced urticaria but it is best to speak to your doctor about this.
Unfortunately it is very difficult to work out when and how someone became positive.
HIV also mutates very quickly making it harder. The CD4 count of a person can sometimes be considered as a sign for how long someone has been positive but this isn’t a good indicator as people respond differently to HIV, and have different CD4 counts at the same stage of infection. Likewise a high viral load is more associated with recent infection but this would need to be compared to baseline which isn’t possible Neither of these are accurate methods unfortunately.