Monitoring treatment

Monitoring HIV treatment is important to success. By monitoring treatment, healthcare providers are able to check if a particular drug combination is effective in controlling HIV infection. This allows healthcare providers to keep a patient on successful treatment combinations and make any changes in an unsuccessful HIV treatment combination before an HIV+ patient gets too sick.

Measuring success

A simple blood test is used to monitor HIV treatment. Two key measurements are used to check the success of HIV treatment:

• CD4 cell count—measures the number of CD4 cells or T cells in a patient's blood. CD4 cells or T cells are the cells that fight germs in the body. HIV targets these cells to make copies of itself. Therefore, a higher CD4 cell count is better than a lower one. A healthy CD4 cell count is 500 or more, and a person with a CD4 cell count below 200 is more likely to get sick. Once a person tests positive, they should have a CD4 cell count done every three to six months to monitor the health of their immune system
• Viral load—measures the amount of HIV in a patient's blood. A lower viral load is better than a higher viral load. The ultimate goal of HIV therapy is to reduce viral load to an undetectable level, less than 50 or 400. Remember, having an undetectable viral load does not mean you are cured—you can still pass HIV to others. Once a person tests positive for HIV, it is important to have a viral load test every three to six months to monitor HIV infection

For more information about monitoring HIV treatment, visit APositiveLife.com.