Question
Does a herpes outbreaks mean HIV meds are not working? do they increase HIV viral load?
17 December 2025. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Complications and coinfections.
So I live in the US and I’ve been on Biktarvy for over 5 years now and constantly undetectable when I take my viral load test every three months.
This year I had my first herpes outbreak. So far I’ve had three outbreaks since January.
Does this mean my hiv treatment is failing?
Is my HIV considered detectable during my herpes outbreaks?
Answer
Hi there
If your viral load has been undetectable for 5 years then your meds are still working really well.
This means the herpes outbreaks are much more likely to be linked to other factors, including stress, strong sun exposure, other infections or generally being run down, including poor sleep, excess alcohol or drugs etc.
Although herpes might increase your viral load by 3-4 fold, this might still be undetectable or at low levels. For example if your regular viral load is 5 copies/mL then herpes might increase this to 20 copies/mL – still undetectable.
The only way to know whether this affects you would be to have a viral load test if you have another outbreak,
Having more than two outbreaks a year might be a reason to use prophylactic herpes treatment. Please talk to your doctor about this, especially if the outbreaks are very difficult.
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