Dr Feinberg, its the Med student again, belated holiday wishes to you and yours. You mention lymphopenia being a "hallmark" of HIV, that being said, any sort of "timetable" in terms of how long might survive with dangerously low levels, 1 year? 2 years? or is it impossible to say, thanks gain.

The lymphopenia associated with HIV infection is chronic and it isn't possible to say how long survival will be according to the degree of lymphopenia. Of course, extreme lymphopenia that includes low levels of T helper cells means that a person will be increasingly vulnerable to an opportunistic disease(s) that are typical of AIDS. But I've seen people live for over 3 years with absolutely zero T helper cells, so even that marker, as good as it is for prognosis, isn't perfect.