Question
What do my viral load test results mean?
5 January 2016. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load.
Please can you explain how viral load results mean?
I got my results back and I don’t understand them. It says log units is 2.777 and my RNA copies is 599 cp/mL.
Is this low or high? My CD4 count is 697.
Answer
Hi
Thanks for your question – and it is good that you want to understand your test results.
Sometimes this can be dfficult if your doctor has not explained them clearly. It is also okay to ask your doctor or nurse to explain anything that you are not sure of.
Viral loads tests tells you how much virus is in a millilitre of blood (or another body fluid being measured).
When not on treatment, viral load can range from undetectable to several millions. For anyone on HIV treatment (ART), viral load should ideally get to undetectable, This is defined as being less than 50 copies/mL.
Your test results are the 599 copies/mL, so your viral load is still detectable at 599.
The ‘2.777 log units’ from your test results is a slightly complicated way of saying exactly the same thing as ‘599 copies/mL’.
Because viral loads have such a huge range of numbers they are sometimes expressed in ‘log units’ to make it easier to write them on graphs and diagrams. Doctors and scientists use log scales to look at changes to viral loads over time. See this table of log units compared to viral loads in copies/mL.
Whether this is considered high or low depends on whether or not you are on treatment.
- If you’re not on treatment yet this is a relatively low viral load, which is a good thing.
- If you are on treatment, then if you only recently started ART, your viral load might still be going down.
- If you have been on treatment for more than six month, please talk to your doctor about why the results in not undetectable.
For more information about viral loads and how they relate to both treatment and infectiousness you can also have a look at the following links:
Viral Load and Treatment
Viral Load and Infectiousness
If you tell me if you are currently on treatment or not I can provide more individual information, Also, if you are on treatment, when did you start?
This answer was updated in January 2016 from a question first posted on 5 April 2012.
Hi JC,
A viral load of <34 is classified as being undetectable. This is because its under 50. This is a great thing because your HIV is under control.
Hi, What does it mean if Viral Load is <34 copies/ml
Positive with HIV-1 with detectable viral load but outside linear range of quantification.
Is this bad? I’m worried.
Thank you!!!
Hi Greg,
Any viral load above 50 is classified as being detectable. Are you sure the 713 isn’t your CD4 count?
My viral load is 713 and says undetectable isn’t 713 in the detectable range ?
Hi Luthando,
A persons viral load should ideally become undetectable within 1-3 months of being treatment. However to know for sure you’ll need to have it tested.
Its says 27100 and CD 4count its 4800 is it that bad
N after six months of taking my medication can it be undetactable?
Hi Zaddu,
What was your antibody result? Viral load tests are also called PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) RNA tests.
Rather than look for an immune response, which is an antibody test, they look directly for HIV in a blood sample. In a new infection, viral load can reach very high levels within a few weeks of infection. More rarely this can be within a few days.
However, log numbers are used when numbers are very high or very low. A log copy of 6.0 equals a viral load of 1,000,000 copies/mL.
I’m sorry, but it looks like an HIV positive result. But you should talk to the clinic to make sure there’s not been a lab error. Especially as 46.25 looks very high. Please ask for confirmation and talk to the clinic about treatment if a HIV positive diagnosis is confirmed.
Hi,
I done my hiv pcr rna after 32 days it show 46.25 copies log does it mean i am hiv negetive or hiv positive earlier to this
At 17 days i done my pcr it said i am negetive and report has not shown any log copies info.
Hi Nneka,
Do you have a copy of the result?
Viral load test result TMD, what does it mean?