Question
What does a CD4 count of 42 mean?
26 August 2011. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Starting treatment.
I found that i was positive a year back, i am on art and my cd4 count is 42. What does this suggest?
Answer
Thanks for your question.
I hope you are finding life easier as you get used to HIV. Getting a diagnosis is difficult but it is good that you are now on treatment.
Your CD4 count is a marker of how strong your immune system is, and 42 is pretty low. This means that you are still at risk of HIV-related symptoms until it gets higher because of your ARV treatment.
I am assuming that your CD4 count was lower when you were diagnosed. When starting treatment at a CD4 count below 50, it can take a year to reach 100 and another year perhaps to reach 200.
During this time the risk of infections is lower than if you were not on treatment but until you get to 200 you should also be prescribed an antibiotic called Septrin.
Also, while your CD4 count is below 50, your doctor should examine your eyes to check you do not have vision problems relating to an infection called CMV.
If your CD4 count has not gone up over the last year, then you should ask your doctor to explain these results in case alternative treatments could be used.
Here are a couple of links to infromation about CD4 counts.
https://i-base.info/ttfa/section-1/17-cd4-count-as-a-surrogate-marker
https://i-base.info/ttfa/section-1/19-interpreting-cd4-results-cd4-count-and-cd4-percentage
Hi ntiyiso,
Given that you started meds with a CD4 of 4, and you’ve only been on meds for a month, you’re doing really well. In time your CD4 should get even higher.
Hi. My cd4 count was on 4 when diagnosed. I have started treatment a month ago. I’m over 58 now. Can someone advice if om making progress
Hi Mukesh,
Are you on medication? If you are how long have you been on it for? Is this a new diagnoses?
My cd4 count is 298 is it dangerous
Hi Rabi,
A viral load of 42 shows that your HIV meds are working well because the result is below 50. Therefore HIV is undetectable.
But a CD4 count is low. Please can you talk to your doctor about this. Do you now what it was when you started ART? It can take a while for CD4 counts to recover if you start ART with very low CD4 count.
What HIV meds are you taking?