Question
What does a CD4 count of 11 mean?
21 April 2011. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Living with HIV long-term, Newly diagnosed, Starting treatment.
Hi
My friend just got diagnosed with HIV. His T-cell count is 11. What does that mean?
Thanks
Answer
Thank you for your question.
I am sorry to hear about your friend’s diagnosis. It is never easy finding out about an HIV diagnosis and your support to your friend is very important during this difficult time.
If your friend’s CD4 count is 11 then they need to start HIV treatment immediately. For everything you and your friend need to know about starting treatment please follow this link to our guidebook ‘Introduction to Combination Therapy’.
About 25-50% of people with a CD4 count below 50 who start treatment experience symptoms of IRIS (Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome). This is where the immune system, as it starts to recover, suddenly realises that there are a lot of infections it has to fight against that it was perviously to weak to react to. This can cause additional infections like TB and CMV to show and patient can sometimes start to feel quite ill. However, the good new is that w hilst IRIS can make things a little more complicated, it is easy to treat. For more information please follow this link.
I was diagnosed hiv positive with CD4 of 81 bt not yet started treatment because of difficult in breathing wll I still recover
Hi Natasha,
Thanks for getting in touch. How are things? Are you on HIV treatment? Please let us know how it’s going.
I am Kim I have been living with it for the past 11yrs
Hi Nonkululeko,
How are you doing? Are you able to get any support?
Now that you are aware of your status, you’ll be able to starting looking after your health. This is really important. Being on ARVs is the key to this. Please see here: http://i-base.info/guides/starting
With regards to your child, when someone is pregnant its their viral load that’s important. This, like your CD4 count is controlled by the ARVs. As long as your viral load is undetectable the risk to you baby will be minimal. There’s more about this here: http://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy A persons viral load should become undetectable within 1-3 months of starting treatment.
Hi
I have just found out that I’m Hiv positive and I’m 12 weeks pregnant. My cd4 count is 119. Iv just started taking my arvs today. Is my baby in danger?
Thank you.
Hi Vijay,
I’m sorry to hear this, it sounds tough. But you’ve been on ART 2 years and your viral load is undetectable. And that can stop HIV doing more serious damage to your immune system.
Where do you live Vijay? There could be support organisations that are local to you that can help with daily problems.
Hello I’m Vijay affected Aids with mother to child now I’m 27 years i will take ART last two years only,CD4 count 152 and viral load 42.i have so many problems in my daily life very painful joints and some others Kindly reply me.
Hi Winnie,
A viral load of 24 copies is good. It’s undetectable. And that’s the aim of taking ARVs. But a CD4 count of 40 is low. Has your husband just started treatment? What meds does he take?
CD4 counts have the chance to recover and get stronger once you get to undetectable. But he should talk to the doctor about taking antibiotics to stop other infections. At least until his CD4 count is over 200.
Hey my husband cd4 count is 40 and vira load is 24,wat can we do to increase de viral load or he is on a danger stage?
Hi Thobisa,
RVD probably stands for antiretroviral disease. But this is not helpful at all. RVD could be used in some countries but people who are living with HIV prefer to say HIV positive. That’s because RVD implies AIDS, and that is not the case with modern HIV treatment (ART). I’m HIV positive but I’m on ART and I don’t have AIDS.
No CD4 count can mean that the CD4 test has not been done. An HIV test should be used to find out if you’re HIV positive. And there should also be tests for CD4 count and viral load.