Question
Can you go from having AIDS to just having HIV?
16 November 2007. Related: All topics, HIV transmission, Living with HIV long-term.
Can you go from having AIDS to HIV?
When I was first diagnosed I had a CD4 count of 160 and now I am at a CD4 count of 460 and have an undetectable viral load.
So, now that my CD4 count is over the 200 number is that considered just HIV again?
Answer
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), also referred to as ‘advanced HIV infection’ describes the late and most serious stage.
In the US, having a CD4 count under 200 was itself defined as AIDS, though this was not the case in Europe (where you needed to have specific symptoms or illnesses). I think in the US, once you have had AIDS the diagnosis stays. This is not the case in Europe. Either way, this is a discussion more about words than your actual health.
Now, AIDS is usually in people who do not have access to treatment, who are only diagnosed very late or whose treatment has stopped working.
When combination therapy became widely available in the mid 1990s, many people who had CD4 counts of less than 200, and had been diagnosed with AIDS, saw their CD4 counts rise to higher levels and their viral loads become undetectable.
The important thing is that your CD4 continues to climb and you continue to do well if you are on treatment.