I seroconverted in 7/97 and I am interested in learning more about projected blood counts. I know that during primary infection, CD4 cells tend to get very low and the viral load is very high, but then they level off and return to a healthier equilibrium, and then gradually deteriorate for 10 years or so (if left untreated). During primary infection, about how high do VL counts go and how low do T-Cell counts go? How long does it generally take before the primary infection is over and what blood counts might those infected expect to see then?

Dear Primary infection questioner,

During primary infection, T-cell counts can drop but usually not below 350 and if that, not for longer than a few weeks. In a few cases, patients have developed candida infections or pneumonia during this brief drop. Viral can go high, to somewhere over a million copies,but this is also brief and returns to a "set point" within several weeks.

Everything reaches a state of equilibrium around 12-16 weeks after infection.

RM