Dear doctor

sorry for submitting another question on the same subject, but I'm becoming increasingly concerned (previuos questions/answers below). 19 days after the second test, third test revealed VL at 47: CD4 were not measured. I'm being told all is ok but I'm afraid this is more than a blip now (about a month between first and last detectable tests). Do you think at this point that resistence might have occurred? If that were the case, would I still have available options with the same drug categories?

Many thanks. G. Dear doctor

below the question I submitted last week, with the answer you provided. Exactly 11 days after the first test, I tested again: this time, VL came in at 67. My physician says I should't worry about it, he assumes it's still a blip. But woulln't 2 consecutive detectable levels indicate treatment failure? I also forgot to mention I had a herpes outbreak 2 weeks before the first test, it lasted about a week. Thanks for your advice.

Dear doctor

Been on therapy now for 1 year, VL around 600k at the time I began, undetectable 3 months later. CD4 went from 11% to 27% in this timeframe. I'm on Truvada, Reyataz and Norvir. Just got my new results and VL is at 180. The doctor says that pretty much everyone that went in that day had an increase VL and that I should go back in to confirm it's a lab error. Is there such a thing a "serial" error, where tests come out wrong on a number of people at once? Should I be concerned? Thanks very much for your answer.

Response from Dr. Holodniy

I would not be concerned. This result is more likely to be the result of blipping, which is related to assay variability and not something going on in you.

Response from Dr. Holodniy

Given that new results, my answer remains the same. I am not concerned.

I am still not concerned at all. These are assay blips associated with assay variability.