POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Someone I Care About Has HIV => Topic started by: toughtimes on April 28, 2011, 09:45:24 am
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Hi,
My boyfriend is newly diagnosed and I'm wondering what some of his recent blood results mean.
His CD4 is 550 and has Viral Load of 180,000. He said the doctor told him that was consistent with a recent HIV infection. What does the doctor mean by recent?
Now firstly I though that CD4 sounded pretty low for someone who's only just got the virus, which has me worried that his period between infection and starting meds might be particularly short.
Secondly, the viral load seems scarily high and making me wonder whether he has very recently seroconverted - like in the past weeks rather than months? My major concern here is not only that a viral load that high means he will have been particularly infectious to me when I was exposed (something I feel guilty even worrying about right now) but also that if he hasn't recently seroconverted a load like that is going to be hammering his CD4 right?
Can anyone help me to find answers to these questions?
BTW: You might have already seen me post on the Am I Infected forum as I'm currently on PEP and awaiting the outcome of this.
Thanks all for your help!
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A friend of mine got his PCR results yesterday. You can read about it here (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=37626.0). He seroconverted in December. His VL is about the same, but the CD4 is lower than your boyfriend's. By "recent infection", your doctor likely meant that he was infected sometime within the past 3-6 months.
Everybody reacts to HIV differently, some people can go many, many years without needing drugs because their bodies can keep the viral load down by itself. Some need to be on drugs right away. And yet other can wait 6 months to two years without needing 'em. From what I understand, the CD4 can vary throughout the course of the day. High in the mornings, low in the afternoons from what I read. My advice to you is not to worry for now, but to wait and see what the next couple PCR tests say and trust the ID doctor's judgment in regards to medication.
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I noticed everyone talking about percentages when they state their CD4 figures, what is this percentage?
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There is a wonderful section of this website, Lessons, that can tell you everything you need to know. Here's the page in particular (http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/TCellTest_4727.shtml). :)
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Very helpful, thank you.
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Checke out my numbers below - similar to your boyfriends and I have been pos for 3 years now....