Question about viral load numbers?

[rrsgirl]

I hope its alright that I started a new post with this question...but I didn't know if anyone would see it at the end of my other post. Anyway, my boyfriend just called his dr. to get the results of bloodwork he had done about 10 days ago. When he was first diagnosed and had his v/l done on May 13th, his numbers were 7,110. Today he got his latest numbers, from bloodwork done on June 24 and his v/l is 710..is that good? I'm alittle confused because according to his dr. hes been positive for maybe 10 years, shouldn't his original numbers have been way higher? From what I've seen on this forums 7,110 isn' too high for untreated HIV..and he was really sick. Also, his CD4 number was 64 at diagnosis, but they didnt have his current CD4 number when he called today...Oh, he's been on meds since May 17th (Reyataz,Norvir and Truvada).

[Ann]

rr,

When I was at the ten year mark - and I know when I seroconverted - two of my VL results for that year were 7,610 and 5,630, so yes, it's totally possible to be poz for ten years, without treatment, and have a low VL. My CD4 was higher than your bf's at 441 and 411 (those numbers correspond to the VLs I gave you). At thirteen untreated years, I still have a low VL and a mid-range CD4 (between 400 and 600, usually)

As he's on meds, his VL is going in the right direction and he will likely be undetectable at his next set of labs.

He was probably sick because of his low CD4s. VL results don't always reflect a person's state of health in untreated infection.

He's going in the right direction, so relax.