{"id":4367,"date":"2023-02-07T15:14:18","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/?p=4367"},"modified":"2023-05-05T10:18:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T10:18:47","slug":"do-i-need-to-take-arvs-as-well-as-tb-meds-with-a-high-cd4-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/4367","title":{"rendered":"Do I need to take ARVs as well as TB meds with a high CD4 count?"},"content":{"rendered":"

NOTE: this question from 2011 has been updated to cover guidelines for HIV and TB treatment in 2023.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks<\/p>\n

The short answer is yes. Both these meds are really important.<\/p>\n

It is especially important if you also have TB. And\u00a0HIV treatment is recommended for everyone, even with high CD4 counts. This is an example of how guidelines have changed since you were diagnosed.<\/p>\n

I am also sorry to hear about the assault. I hope you have been able to access care and support to help you get back to your life again. You are doing a great job at bring back your focus on your own health. This is important and your strength is an example to other people.<\/p>\n

Your first CD4 results might just have been low if you were only recently infected.<\/p>\n

In most people the CD4 recovers again, before it steadily drops over many years. It is great that your CD4 count has gone up, but the years that you were not on treatment would still have been damaging your immune system.\u00a0You can still access treatment now if you go back to your clinic.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an ‘immune boosters’. This is just adverts and marketing. So-called ‘immune boosters’ will not help your CD4 count – only HIV meds can do this.<\/p>\n

This question was updated in 2023 and 2021 from a question posted in 2011. This is because guidelines now recommended HIV treatment for everyone with TB.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I tested positive in South Africa in 2009 and my CD4 was 240 and in December 2010 I started treatment. It was for one month only. I was okay with it, it never gave me any problems but on the following month I never went to the clinic, so i started using Bactrim and some boosters.<\/p>\n

Then in May 2011 I was raped by unknown guy and when they took my blood to check for my CD4, and the result was 500. At the same time they discovered that I’ve got TB. Now, since I am taking TB treatment, should I also start ARVs? I am worried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,29,49,39,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-opportunistic-infections","category-south-africa","category-starting-treatment","category-tb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4367"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21763,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4367\/revisions\/21763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}