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View the PDF of the Viral Load Brochure.
 [281 KB]

What is a virus?

A virus is a tiny but powerful germ in the body. A virus fights healthy cells in the body. When this happens, people become sick.

What is HIV?

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. When HIV gets in your body, it makes many copies of itself, very quickly. In fact, this virus can make as many as 10 billion copies of itself each day.

What are CD4 cells?

To fight off HIV, your body makes about 2 billion “helper” or “messenger” cells every day. These “helper cells” are called CD4 cells, or T cells. When there is too much HIV in the blood, more and more CD4 cells die. The body becomes too weak to fight back, and AIDS may start.

What is viral load?

Viral load (or viral level, as it is also called) is a number that tells you how many copies of the virus are in each milliliter (mL) of your blood. An undetectable viral load doesn’t mean that there’s no HIV in your blood—it means that there is so little HIV that the test can’t measure it.

Why is viral load so important?

Viral load can indicate if your HIV is getting worse or better, even if you are not feeling sick.

Studies show that…

• When people have a high viral load soon after being infected with HIV, they seem to develop AIDS much faster than people with a low viral load early on.
• Keeping the viral load low may keep HIV from getting worse quickly.

How is viral load measured?

Viral load is measured with a simple blood test that determines how much HIV is in your blood (viral load test). Your blood will be drawn, and a laboratory will count the amount of virus in the blood. Viral load can be as low as 50 or as high as more than 1 million copies per mL.

When should viral load be measured?

Many doctors now think that viral load should be used with CD4 count (the number of CD4 cells in your body) to figure out when to start or change treatment.

Viral load is most often measured…

• At the time of diagnosis
• At select intervals whether or not you are receiving therapy to see how you are doing
• After any change in therapy

Remember:

HIV medicines are not a cure for HIV or AIDS. People taking HIV medicines can still get infections or other conditions related to HIV. They can still give HIV to others by having sex or by sharing needles with people who do not have HIV. It is very important for all patients with HIV to keep seeing their doctor.

HIV treatment:

Keeping viral load as low as possible, as long as possible

Many doctors look at both viral load and CD4 count to decide the best way to treat HIV.

An undetectable viral load and high CD4 count are the best indication that treatment is working.

If your viral load is increasing, your doctor may talk to you about starting or changing your medicines.

Ask your doctor about different treatment choices that can decrease your viral load.

Knowing your viral load is very important to fighting HIV!

Ask your doctor about knowing and checking your viral load.

Reimbursement assistance and viral load test information

Toll-free information for patients and healthcare providers is available from the following:

PCR Testing
Roche Diagnostic Systems, Inc.
AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR^™
1-888-TEST PCR
1-888-837-8727
Monday–Friday
8:30 AM–5:00 PM, Eastern Time

View the PDF of the Viral Load Brochure.
 [281 KB]

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