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 Lindiwe,
Its not possible to say when someone was infected with HIV by their CD4 count or viral load. To know this you’ll need to think about any risks that you may have taken.
Its normal to have a resistance test done before starting medication, this is to ensure that you’ve given the right medication. There’s more info about medication here: http://i-base.info/guides/starting
With regards to your pregnancy, its not possible to say if your child will be OK or not. However, being on medication will reduce the risk of transmission, please see here: http://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy
Hi I’m almost 6 months pregnant and I just found out I’m HIV positive after doing routine tests. I was told my CD4 is 704 and my viral load is 55000… I’m not on treatment yet as I was waiting for my liver test results before they can prescribe the correct treatment for me. What does all this mean? Was I recently infected? Will my baby be negative once I start my treatment?
Hi Rachael,
Your viral load is undetectable so you aren’t at risk, please see here: http://i-base.info/u-equals-u/ Viral load results are explained in the above post.
Hi am Rachael my viral load is 0.600ml
And am lower than detectable,But my husband is negative ,his he save for unprotected sex?
And also what does 0.600ml viral load means?
Hi Ashuni,
I’m not sure about how this has come about. What does the clinic say about it? Here’s a Q&A about what different tests are used to test for HIV.
And here is a similar question about why one partner tests positive and the other negative.
Hi I was diagnosed in March this year with a cd4 count of 430 and a viral load of 3174 now at the time I didn’t know I was pregnant and the clinic put me on medication straight away. I was already 3months. Fast forward to December I just got back my viral load and it is undetectable with a cd4 count of 843. I am on Atripla. My question is when I first did my test it came out positive but the line on the rapid test was very faint. I did a blood test and it came out positive. I refuse to believe I re took the test it came back negative for antibodies but positive for antigens. I do not understand how this works. Also my husband of 2years is still negative. When we met I did not know I was positive so we were having unprotected sex. How can this also be?
Hi Ify,
Yes, HIV treatment can reduce HIV so much that it can’t be detected in the blood tests. However, people will still test HIV positive even when viral load is said to be zero.
But it’s good news because Undetectable = Untransmittable. It means that someone with an undetectable HIV viral load on HIV treatment (ART) cannot transmit HIV, even without using condoms or PrEP.
when viral load said to be zero what does it mean? does it mean that you don’t have the HIV again in your blood because mine is zero and It’s just one year and 4months now I started taking treatment.
Hi Peters,
Having a viral load of less than 50 means that your HIV is under control, this is excellent news. It also means that you cannot transmit HIV to sexual partners.
I want clarifications, my nurse told me my last test showed my viral load to be 20. What does this mean? I have been on medications for 24 months or more.