Question

What does CD4 and viral load mean?

5 March 2022. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load.

Viral load was 650,000. It’s down to 300. CD4 count was 250. Now it’s 307. I get confused as to what exactly this all means.

Answer

Answer: Josh Peasegood

Hi, how are you doing?
CD4 count is a measure of how healthy your immune system is. A CD4 count of 307 is really good. HIV medication will help your CD4 count continue to rise. A healthy range for CD4 count is 430-1690, as you are a little lower than this it shows that HIV has damaged your immune system. However as your CD4 count is increasing it means that your immune system is slowly recovering. For more information about CD4 count: https://i-base.info/cd4-count/
Viral load determines how active HIV is in your body. A viral load of 650000 would suggest that HIV is not being managed and is active in your body. HIV medication helps to manage and suppress how active HIV is in the body. This is what viral load measures. The lower the viral load the better your medication is working. A viral load of 300 is really good and means HIV is being managed in your body with medication. It is possible for this to reduce further and become undetectable. For more information about viral load: https://i-base.info/guides/testing/viral-load
Josh. 

4 comments

  1. Christina Antoniadi •

    Hello Tee and thanks for getting in touch.

    Congratulations on the baby, you must be very happy.

    Tee it could be a blip. Blips happen often and the viral load comes back down to undetectable on its own.

    It can also mean you are very tired and your body is not responding as it should.

    Finally, we know new mums often take on too much with the care of the new baby and forget themselves.

    Are you taking your medication every day?

    Please don’t worry. Your viral load is very low.

    If you don’t feel comfortable to continue breastfeeding, your baby is old enough to adopt other feeding.

    I hope you get a good result when you go for the tests.

  2. Tee •

    Hey I’m Tee. My last viral load was below 20. I did them again in July this year and they came back with 200 copies viral load. How is that possible? Mind you, I’m still breastfeeding my 22 months old daughter. How safe is she now? They gave her nevirapine as we will go for her test soon.
    Thank you.

  3. Josh Peasegood •

    Hi Biswajit, please see here for more information about CD4 count: https://i-base.info/ttfa/section-1/9-interpreting-cd4-results-cd4-count-and-cd4-percentage/

  4. Biswajit •

    My cd4,count is 307

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