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 Raven
Please don’t worry.
You are right that any CD4 count less than 50 copies/mL is still undetectable.
This is probably just a lab error or small blip.
See:
https://i-base.info/guides/changing/what-to-do
and
https://i-base.info/guides/changing/blips
and
https://i-base.info/guides/changing/summary
Hi my viral load before this one was
Less than 20 so I was told undetectable
Now this recent viral load says that the
HIV 1 rna, an pcr is 45H copies
And means im not undetectable but I keep seeing under 50 is
With researching
Stressing out and confused
Am I undetectable or not
Please help
Hi Leah,
Your viral load is less than 50copies ml, so yes you’re undetectable.
Hello! Just wanted to chime in a ask if anyone knows how to read this. I got my test results back an am unsure what this means.
Results below:
HIV -1 RNA count SerPlas, QN, Probe
Your Value: <48 cpy/ml
Standard Range: <48 cpy/ml
Does this mean that I am undetectable since it’s “standard”?
Hi Dudu,
There’s no such thing as a 0,600 viral load. Please see here: https://i-base.info/qa/factsheets/viral-load-converting-log-values-to-numbers However, if your viral load is undetectable, this means that your HIV is under control.
What is 0,600 viral load cause since I started my treatment it always says undetectable I really don’t understand
Hi Sox,
What the nurse has told you is wrong, your HIV is 100% under control. It’s under control because your viral load is undetectable, this is because it’s less than 50 copies ml. You’re doing great.
I was on treatment for 6 months now and the results for my viral load is 45 copies, but the nurse told me l was supposed to have zero copies by now . So wat does this really mean
Hi Kabo,
You should not be worried.
Viral loads tests tell you how much virus is in a millilitre of blood. An viral load test of <30 means there is less than 30 copies of HIV in a millitire of blood.
Any viral load result less than 50 copies is called undetectable. That's good news because undetectable means HIV can not be transmitted even if you do not use condoms.
Please see undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) at this link.
Help here what does viral load results of <30 mean? Should I be worried?