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 Lee,
A CD4 count of 350 is still quite strong and it’s not urgent that you start treatment straight away. You will probably need to start treatment in the next few months though so it’s a good idea to learn more about treatment and start preparing for this. Our Introduction to combination therapy has lots of information about starting treatment. Why do you feel like you’re not ready to start treatment yet?
It is possible to protect your baby using a shorter course of ARV treatment although there are better results from full ARV treatment. Does your doctor know that you think your are pregnant? It’s important to let your doctor or clinic know if you are pregnant as they may want you to start treatment sooner because of this.
Hi, I am 29, hiv+ and my cd4 is 350 bt my viral load is apperently high cz my dr said there is no need for me to start arvs. I recently finished my TB treatment in may n I’m taking purbac to prevent re-infection of TB. I suspect that I’m 2weeks pregnant and I would like your help guys because I’m nt ready to start arvs for te rest of my life bt I would like to protect my baby from being infected, so my question is, is it possible to hv a healthy pregnacy n nt infect the baby without actually starting the ARVs bt by only taking the necessary ones to prevent the baby from being infected? I would really apreciate your help in this matter.
Hi Thuli,
Congratulations on your pregnancy! It’s great that you’re on treatment. This will help to keep you healthy and will make it much less likely that your baby is infected.
Having unprotected sex with your boyfriend could put him at risk of being infected with HIV. Although treatment can make people less infectious this can take up to six months. Since you have only recently started treatment your viral load (how much HIV is in your body) is probably still quite high. This means your boyfriend is risking catching HIV if he doesn’t use a condom.
The other risk is to you and your baby, if your boyfriend has any sexually transmitted infections. It’s important to avoid these, especially while you are pregnant. For more informaiton about HIV and sexual transmission please follow this link to our testing and transmission guide.
You may also find our guide to Pregnancy, HIV and women’s health useful. The guide discusses many of the questions women have about HIV and pregnancy, including informaiton about giving birth and breastfeeding.
Im HIV+ and pregnant my CD4 is 293, i started ARVs a few days ago and my boyfriend is negative and he doesn’t want the condom, could unprotected sex have any risks on the baby or him. What about infections?
Any medical worry is something to talk to your doctor about. We can’t make a diagnosis over the internet and we are not doctors. The CD4 change nay just be a normal fluctuation – yor levels are still good. Please talk to your doctor about the growth.
hi.my cd4 dropd from 658 to 378 now.what cud be the problem ?am worried .and i have a growth besides my thighs.help me.what can i take or do
Hi Suzan
Your CD4 count is still very strong and lots of treatment guidelines still don’t recommend treatment until this drops to under 350. Even if it goes a bit lower before you start – sometimes this happens with the time for monitoring – there is very little risk of anything serious related to HIV.
If you and your bf want to have a baby, this is also possible, without him becoming HIV positive.
More information is at these links:
When the man is HIV-positive and the woman HIV-negative
The Swiss Statement (on reduced risk when you are on treatment
Hi I recently went to check my cd4 count and it was 425…am still not taking ARVs bcoz they say I must wait for six months to come and check again. I am scared that while still waiting am puting my life at risk. Another question is that my bf is negative. One of the nurses said we can have a quick unprotected sex in order for us to have a baby he won’t b infected coz its going to be once. Does vagina fluids have the virus and how much its the risk of transmiting the virus on a deep kissing?
Hi Claire,
I’m sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis but it’s good to hear that your CD4 count is strong at 640. There is a very similar question about CD4 counts here:How do I improve and maintain my CD4 count?
Having sex with your boyfriend shouldn’t affect your CD4 count. There are some cautions around two positive people having unprotected sex. Information about this can be found at the following pages:
Are condoms needed for safe sex between HIV-positive people?
You and your partners HIV status
I found out that I am HIV positive in January this year, and my Cd4 Count was 640, is there a way to increase it or maintain it above 600? My boyfriend is already on ARVs and we have a sexual intercouse like 3 times every weekend, can this have a bad impact on my Cd4 Count?