Question
Can having a cold affect my CD4 count?
17 April 2022. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load.
I started taking ART August of last year. My viral load after 1 month was 44 copies/mL, every month after it’s been less than 20 copies.
My CD4 has been on the rise as well jumping from 210 (start of treatment) to 545 at my test in January.
I recently got blood work done and my CD4 dropped to 390. That’s a pretty big drop! I take my meds everyday, workout, etc. Am I ok? I did have a cold when I got blood drawn, could that have played a factor?
Answer
Hi, how are you doing?
It is great to hear how responsive your body has been to your medication. Did you find out what your most recent viral load was? If this is still as low as you have been reporting it would suggest that this recent reduction in CD4 count is only temporary.
CD4 count can be influence by a number of things inc. time of the day, exercise and as you have mentioned, other infections. This and other things can affect the CD4 count.
As Cd4 count fluctuates anyway, the recent results might just have been at the low end of average and the previous on was at the high end.
So long as your viral load has stayed undetectable throughout, the CD4 change is unlikely to be real. You could also ask for your CD4 percentage (CD4%) which is often more stable at showing any real change.
Josh.
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