Dear Doc, thanks for your continued help with this forum. I am 14 months in remission from non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. What is very unusual is that I am resistant to all medications, except Agenerase, my viral load hovers around 20,000 but, since my chop treatment my cd4 has been on a continual rise. It is now up to 450 which it hasn't been in 15 years. Prior to chop my cd4 was at a pretty steady 180. Is it possible that chemo does something to the virus?

Although at first glance, it sounds bizarre that after chemotherapy, your CD4 cells rose so much, I have seen such things happen before. Why does this happen? Some possible explanations-- in some patients the thymus goes into overdrive after chemotherapy. The thymus is a small organ in the front part of the chest and is responsible for the CD4 cells. In fact, CD4 cells are also known as T cells; the "T" stands for thymus. This entity of the thymus going into high gear after chemotherapy can be seen on occasion in both HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals. Another explanation for your particularly robust CD4 count may be related to the fact that you are much healthier now given that your cancer is in remission. It is conceivable that months before your lymphoma was diagnosed, you had a few lymphoma cells circulating around which prevented your CD4 count from being so robust. And lastly, chemotherapy can indeed kill the HIV virus. In any event, I am delighted to hear about your good health.