Question
I’m newly diagnosed- are my CD4 and viral load test results ok?
8 May 2012. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Newly diagnosed.
I was just diagnosed HIV positive on March 5, 2012. My CD4 count is 427, my viral load is 127,000. I just stated taking Atripla. Are these numbers OK?
Answer
I’m sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis. How are you coping with this, and do you have any support? Being diagnosed with HIV and starting treatment within a few weeks must have been very stressful. For a lot of people it can really help talking to a support group or counsellor.
Can I ask how long you have been on treatment, and when your last viral load test was? Knowing this information will mean I can interpret your test results more clearly.
A CD4 count is used to measure the strength of your immune system. An HIV negative person will have a CD4 of between 400-1600. Above 500 is considered ‘normal’. In the UK guidelines recommend starting treatment at 350 because you are at higher risk of various infections when your CD4 is below this level. In the USA guidelines recommend starting treatment when your CD4 is around 500 or less. Please follow this link for more information about CD4 counts.
A viral load test estimates how much virus is in your blood (or another fluid measured). A viral load of 127,000 is considered high and would in itself be a reason for starting treatment. A high viral load can be a sign of a recent infection. Please follow this link for more information about viral loads.
The aim of treatment is to decrease the viral load. If you have only just started treatment it is very likely that your next test result will show a big decrease in your viral load. After a month you would expect your viral load to be about 12,000 or less, and after 3-6 months to be under 50. The aim is to get this to undetectable (less than 50). Achieving an undetectable viral load shows that the drugs are working well and also means that you are much less infectious.
For more information about starting treatment and all of these tests please take a look at our Introduction to combination therapy guide.
Hi Nonhlanhla,
Your viral load is 457 copies/mL. Log values are handy to use when talking about numbers that have very large changes. So Log value 2.66 means the same thing as 457 but it’s just written differently. Here’s a link to the log tables.
if viral load is 457 and log value is 2.66