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The recommendation is to limit CD4 testing to 1 year, not viral load. What the study said is that if viral load remains low or peferably undetectable the chances of CD4 dropping below 200 is negligible. If viral load goes up then CD4 would be worth testing
I agree. Once a year is good for me. Tired interupting my days just to hear the dowctor say everything is fine.
A blanket rule of waiting a yr between CD4 tests, seems like a long time. alot can happen in a yr. Should factor in illness, the viral load, and how the person is doing. would recomend that every six months, would be the average, with some people able to go a yr. You need to catch drops, before they impact the health. Think it is to soon to go to one yr between CD4 tests, for the average person with hiv....
Really, trying to spare us the anxiety? REALLY? It's all about the dollar. My virus is the proverbial Italian sports car. It goes from zero to sixty in ten seconds flat. This is the same load they they try to sell to women over mamogram frequency, etc. and it's all about the money. And you know what? We are worth the expense.
I'd like to think that the usefulness of a CD4 count performed at least every six months is useful in order to identify a downward trend before getting dangerously low.
James H. Wilson
I would argue the point of this aticle, without the continued, granted not on a weekly or monthly basis, CD4 counts it becomes unknown information. The followed counts maybe give way to other problems that may pop up that may have been averted with the follow up of the counts. " and the anxiety patients often suffer from observing the fluctuations in CD4 counts that arenâ??t clinically relevant." and if this info causes patients stress then the doctor should know this and not inform Patients.
February 13, 2013 • San Francisco