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Ask the Experts about Choosing Your Meds
does flu shot affect cd4
Jan 18, 2003
i have been hiv positive for almost 16 years. no drugs asymptamatic. recently i decided to get a flu shot the last two times i had my bloodwork done(before i got the shot) my viral load stayed pretty much the same 8683cd4 1125 then vl 8674 cd4 966. in nov 02 is when i got the flu shot and since then my numbers have changed vl 5313 cd4 760 and then this weeks test vl 8608 cd4 646. i use the same lab each time i have not been ill the only thing i did diffrent is have a flu shot. my doctor has no answers for me, he says it's too early to start any drugs. I feel well physically but emotionally my numbers are driving me crazy. any ideas please help.
Response from Dr. Wohl
Hmmm. I don't think your change in absolute CD4 cell counts has anything to do with your flu shots. One thing to look at is your CD4 percentage to see if this has also dropped. If not, probably nothing is going on.
The flu shot is known to transiently increase HIV viral load but this far out you should not be seeing any affects from the immunization. DW
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