{"id":8022,"date":"2017-09-14T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/?p=8022"},"modified":"2017-09-20T12:45:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T12:45:52","slug":"i-have-a-high-cd4-cell-count-should-i-start-treatment-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/8022","title":{"rendered":"Can I start treatment with a high CD4 count?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello,<\/p>\n<p>UK guidelines recommend that everybody can\u00a0start treatmentat any CD4 count. This includes CD4 counts that are higher than 500.<\/p>\n<p>Similar recommendation are included in the US and WHO guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>A few countries only recommend ART after the CD4 count drops to below 500. So the guidelines for your country will be important.<\/p>\n<p>Advantages ofr starting above 500 incude:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keeping a high CD4 count.<\/li>\n<li>Reducing the risk of other illnesses. This includes both HIV and non-HIV complications.<\/li>\n<li>Reducing the risk of transmitting HIV to your sexual partners.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These potential benefits outweight the potential disadvantages.<\/p>\n<p>Disadvantages include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The risk of side effects. But this risk is low and even if side effects occur they are usually mild.<\/li>\n<li>Changing your life to make sure you take your meds on time. Many combinations only involve one pill a day.<\/li>\n<li>A small risk of drug resistance if your treatment doesn\u2019t work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/start-study\">START\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0provided much of the evidence on the benefits of earlier treatment.<\/p>\n<p>There are some situations where treatment is strongly recommended at higher CD4 counts.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you are coinfected with Hepatitis B or C you would be recommended to start treatment if your CD4 count was less than 500.<\/li>\n<li>If you presented with an \u2018AIDS defining illness\u2019 (such as Kaposi Sarcoma) you would be recommended to start treatment regardless of your CD4.<\/li>\n<li>Starting treatment for people in the UK who are worried about transmitting HIV to their partners. This is because of evidence that shows that\u00a0ART dramatically reduces the risk of transmission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The i-Base\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/starting\">Introduction to ART<\/a>\u00a0answers many questions about starting treatment.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0This answer has been updated several times from a question first answered in October 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I HIV positive and thinking of starting treatment. <\/p>\n<p>My CD4 cell count is still high (above 500), but I have heard that you can start treatment earlier if you want to. <\/p>\n<p>Can I start treatment early, and what are the advantages and disadvantages?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-cd4-and-viral-load","category-starting-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8022","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=8022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}