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Falling CD4 but All Tests -ve - HELP
#40670 - 09/24/02 10:53 AM
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Dear all - need some advice, help, support.
12 months post a condom break with what I didn't realise at the time was a HIV+ infected person I am still testing -ve on Elisa 1 and 2, P24 antigen, bDNA, RNA PCR and DNA PCR. Normally of course I would take great comfort in these 'conclusive' test results. However, I have monitored my CD4 throughout the 12 months and it has fallen from 680+ (2 weeks post exposure) to 370 (6 months post) to 255 (12 months post). I also suffered from an ARS type illness 1 month post exposure and the swollen glands have persisted to this day.
Before writing this post I referred to the John Hopkins 'Medical Management of HIV' publication and read that several conclusions can be drawn about Idiopathic CD4 Depletion Syndrome from the experience of patients with this Syndrome including 1) they lack risk factors for HIV infection, and 2) CD4 cell counts tend to remain stable
These two factors clearly do not apply to my situation. I am very concerned that I will not be treated for HIV because of the negative test results and that I will in a short period of time see my CD4 counts fall below 200 and thus suffer from an OI.Whilst I realise this is a sensitive subject I would very much value your opinion in terms of what I should do. Are there any other tests that I could take and would you recommend trialling HAART to see if my CD4 responds?
Please do respond - I do not know where else to turn
Warmest Regards
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Sounds like you are negative. See "to all those" post below. What symptoms did you have and when? Talk to an infectious disease specialist. My understanding is that CD4 can change and vary widely (even from morning til evening) in healthy, negative people. This is not likely cause for alarm.
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Wow! I can see why you are concerned. However I doubt you are positive. What are your ongoing symptoms? and what were they initially?
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My ongoing symptons are the swollen nodes and a coated toungue - other than that feel OK. Initially I had diarreah, mild hot/cold sweats and swollen nodes.
Sam
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I have no doubt that with the degree of testing that you have had - both antibody testing and PCR testing - that you must be negative. The odds that you have not seroconverted by 12 months AND the PCR/viral loads are falsely negative are infinitessimally small - it doesn't happen. I'm in the same boat with low cd4s but have only tested negative to 6 months on antibody testing and a proviral dna test. The doctors all tell me to forget about hiv - it seems they don't know a lot about cd4 counts in non-infected people. Anyway, I am sure you can relax. Also forget about HAART - no doctor should give it to you on those results!
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I forgot to add that HAART is not indicated because there is yet no clear evidence of retroviral infection but if your cd4 count drops below 200 then you might want to consider antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent OIs
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