Thank you doc for answering. As I mentioned earlier that I am from remote northeastern part of India and we have to send our blood samples to Bombay, which takes at least 2 days to reach by connecting flight;I am on triple drug regimen for 8 months ;My CD4 and VL increased after 6 months of treatment(from 230 12000 to 400 16000);Could there be any viral replication during the jouney(at least 2 -5 days) in my blood sample which will be without medication and cosequently result in the increased in the VL in my case and what effect will the journey have on CD4 count? Please help.Right now my doc has diagnoses my cough as allergy rhenitis and on medication for allergy for the past 11 days(still continuing till 21 days as my doc prescribed) without total cure so far;I am worried please help me?I am TB -ve & no PCP. My doc says my throat is infected with puss and currently on saline gurgling.

Theoretically, there may be some low level replication within your lymphocytes contained in the blood sample. However, we are more concerned with decreasing viral load during specimen transport. Usually samples are processed first before shipment. That is plasma is separated from blood, frozen and then shipped to decrease the chance of viral load being reduced.