Question
Will starting treatment within nine months help my long-term health?
19 January 2008. Related: All topics, Living with HIV long-term, Newly diagnosed, Starting treatment.
Having started treatment within nine months of infection, will this have any bearing on how well I will do long term?
I now have undetectable viral load and my CD4 rose from 189 at time of starting meds, to 440 within 4 weeks. I am male aged 38, what do you think my outlook is?
Also I suffered a seroconversion 2 weeks after infection but apart from that I have had no signs of any illness. I have always kept well.
Answer
Most people do not need to start treatment this early, or even get this chance because they are diagnosed much later. However, a low CD4 count during seroconversion is a reason to start, so you have been getting good advice.
Once you are on successful treatment (with undetectable viral load) then HIV is unlikely to cause you health problems in the future.
Some researchers think there may be benefits from starting treatment soon after infection though, even if your CD4 count does’t drop so low. This is something that future research will focus on.
Comment