Hi Dr Rob, you are my hero and shining light,

l was infected on a holiday in china january 2008, l got a fever in mid jan, by march when l tested l was hiv pos,

my first tests in march was virol load 13,000 and cd4 430 %25 next test in june my numbers where the same... then in august my numbers where cd4 460 and viroal load 30,000 and %27... in

november my numbers dropped to cd4 375 and viroal load 80,000 %24 and my recent test in

febuary 2009 reads CD4 281 viroal load 45,000 and %19

how can l drop close to 180 cd4 cells in 5 months ??? my doctor said its up to me to start treatment, as the virus has been in my system for only 12 months,

would you have a idea whats going on doctor ???

thank you for your time doctor

tim

Hi Tim,

It's always challenging to try to figure out exactly what's happening over the Internet, as we cannot conduct a proper medical history, review the entire medical file, review and/or obtain specific laboratory results and perform a thorough physical examination.

HIV disease progression is extremely variable from case to case and is dependent on both virus (viral strain, viral load, etc.) and host (immune integrity, concurrent illnesses, immunosuppressive medications) factors.

Assuming you are under the care of an HIV/AIDS physician specialist and he has conducted a thorough medical evaluation and not found a specific cause for your rapidly declining CD4 count, I would advise you to begin antiretroviral therapy. You can read much more about beginning antiretroviral medications in the archives.

Good luck. I'm here if you need me.

Dr. Bob