Good afternoon Dr. Holodniy,

First and foremost, thank you for doing this! This is absolutely invaluable. I just found out that I am HIV+ back in late November and have already started on HAART regiment of Complera. My CD3+CD4+ count is in the mid 800 range and the % being at 28%. My initial viral load is at 444. There is a plethora of information out there. My doctor says this is a "GOOD START" however, given that my viral load is so low, it may be difficult to do the genotype of the strain. I would like to know what numbers I can expect when keeping up with the medication, diet, and exercise. Also, is it possible to get the viral load down to <20 or even <10?

You doctor is correct. Your CD4 count and percent are in the normal range and your viral load is very low. In addition, most laboratories will not perform a resistance test if the viral load is < 1,000 copies/ml, which your is. So yes, given where you are starting from, there should be no difficult in getting to undetectable viral load (certainly < 20 where most commercial test thresholds are). Since your CD4 count is already in the normal range, you can expect some, but not a dramatic increase in number.