Question
Does alcohol increase viral load?
27 February 2023. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load.
Hi! Does alcohol interfere with viral load? I took a viral load test a few weeks ago and it went from undetectable to detectable again. The thing is I had quite a few beers the day before I took the test. So I was wondering if that could’ve been the reason.
I’ve been told by the doctor to wait for 3 months before taking the test again.
Answer
Hi, how are you doing?
No. Alcohol does not increase viral load.
How high was your viral load? An increase in viral load can be normal and is usually temporary.
Very commonly it happens because of a blip. This are random events when someone is undetectable and on treatment but there viral load has a small increase for a few weeks. This can be normal and returns to undetectable before the next test.
Temporary increases can also be caused by recent/current infections e.g., cold/flu or by having a recent vaccine. If it was a significant increase it is likely a lab error and a second test should be offered to confirm the result.
Josh.
Hi JBB, it is great to hear that after retesting your viral load went back to being undetectable. Why were you worried about your CD4 count staying at 580? A healthy CD4 count is between 430 and 1690 which yours already was. Your treatment is working very well. You have a suppressed viral load and you have a CD4 count that is in a healthy range and shows no signs of being damaged by HIV.
Hey! Thanks so much for answering. My viral load went from undetectable to 365 copies. Which I initially thought was pretty high. Anyways I started feeling very anxious and worried so I decided to re take the test right away and it came back as undetectable again :) And my cd4 went up also (from 580 to 680 yay) when I was thinking it would stay on that number forever since I’m already on my 3rd year of treatment.