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CD4 and viral load Feb 12, 2006 I have friend who tested positive 18 months ago feeling very seek prior to the test. During the last 18 months his cd4 cells has dropped from 450 down to 250. However his viral load has all the time been very low around 6000. Is he about to start treatment or could there be another reason for the continious drop in cd4 cells now that the viral load is so low ? |
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| Response from Dr. Holodniy
 It could be the strain he got which has contributed to this decline despite not being a very high viral load. It is also important to look at the CD4 percentage and the white blood cell count (WBC) and total lymphocyte count. If these numbers have declined, but the CD4 percent stayed the same, then the CD4 absolute count decline may not be that significant. On the other hand, if those numbers are about the same and the CD4 percent has dropped by > 3%, then that is significant and treatment should be started sooner rather than later. | ||||||||
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