Hi there,

Like a recent poster, I too am a 33 year old hetero male living in Thailand.

Just received my latest bloods. Since diagnosis in mid 2004 my CD4 has hovered between 400-550 and viral load always around 22000. My most recent bloods show a CD4 of 542, but the viral load is up at 98000.

Please advise re: need for meds and what is going on indide me.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for posting. I hear that there's some political ongoings in Bangkok this week.

Like previous posts about viral load testing, it's important to appreciate that off antiretroviral treatment, HIV viral loads can vary a lot. Minor infections (like sinusitis, sore throat or herpes infection) can increase the VL transiently.

I usually don't get alarmed unless the viral load changes by more than 5-10 fold.

In any event, looks like you have a very stable CD4 count-- if you were my patient and you were not experiencing any significant symptoms (like chronic fever, weight loss or night sweats), I would continue to monitor things and not worry about starting on antiretroviral medications for any time in the near-term future.

Good luck, BY