Q and A

Question

Is a viral load of 2,200,000 very high?

Hi, my viral load is 2,200,000 – that’s very high, right?

Answer

Hi there

Generally, any viral load above 100,000 copies/mL is high.

If you are likely to have been HIV positive for a while, your CD4 count will also be low. This makes if important to start HIV treatment.

If you are already on treatment, a viral load this high, definitely means you need to change your meds.

However, if it is likely you only caught HIV a few weeks ago, viral load can often go this high and sometime even higher (sometimes over 20,000,000 copies/mL).

It is still imprtant to start treatment, but this should also help you know that other people get these results – ad that treatment will still work well.

2 comments

  1. Lisa Thorley

    Hi John,

    Yes. In primary infection it’s common that a persons CD4 count will drop, please see here: https://i-base.info/qa/12828 In time it will rebound.

  2. John

    If i caught HIV a few weeks ago and i have very high viral load, is it possible for cd4 to drop below 200 during this time?

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