Question
My CD4 count is low. Can I have a baby?
7 June 2012. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Pregnancy.
I am 29 years old. I am HIV positive and have been taking ARVs for 5 years.
I want a child but my chances of having a baby are scarce because my CD4 count is low.
What must I do to increase my CD4 cells? Please help me.
Answer
Having a low CD4 count alone should not stop you from having a baby. Many women living with HIV who have a low CD4 count have gone on to have babies.
The most important factor in having a healthy HIV negative baby is having an undetectable viral load by the time you deliver. Please follow this link to our guide to HIV, pregnancy and women’s health. The guide answers a lot of general questions you may have around planning your pregnancy.
I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a few questions before I respond to your second question. This will enable me to give you a more comprehensive answer.
You mention that you have been on treatment for 5 years and that your CD4 count is low. Can I ask how low your CD4 count is? Do you also know what your viral load is? And a finally, do you remember what your CD4 count was when you started taking ARVs (antiretroviral treatment for HIV)?
I can appreciate you are concerned that it is taking long for your CD4 count to increase. This is not uncommon. The rate at which CD4 counts increase is usually related to how low they got before you started treatment. Most people see an increase their CD4 count within a year of starting treatment.
However, if your CD4 count was quite low to begin with it could take you much longer to see more of an increase in your CD4 count. Please follow this link to our guide to An introduction to combination therapy for more detailed information on the rate at which average CD4 counts increases over the years,
Your third question was regarding what you can do in order to increase your CD4 count. By taking ARVs, you are already doing the best you can. This is because, ARVs are the only proven way of not only achieving and maintaining an undetectable viral load, it is the only way of increasing your CD4 count.
Good luck with your future plans.
Hi Nikita, have you started treatment? You can still conceive. Starting treatment and recovering your health will help improve your fertility. Treatment can be taken while trying for a baby and throughout pregnancy. Starting treatment will also mean you can live by U=U. This is a campaign that informs people that when on treatment and their viral load is below 200, they cannot pass on HIV via sex. This makes sex with their parter safe and allows for safe conception. U=U: https://i-base.info/guides/testing/uu-undetectable-untransmittable
Hi am Nikita am 28 I just found out that am HIV positive,and I wanted a child,and they say my viral load is okay,,but my cd4count I low153,,so wanna ask if I can be able to conceive coz I don’t have a child
Hi Zee,
If your viral load is undetectable, which it is, then it’s OK to have a natural birth. Your CD4 count is actaully not that bad, 381 isn’t low. For more info about pregnancy, please see here: http://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy