Dr

A plasma viral load test (also called a PVL test) measures how much HIV is in your blood. The amount of HIV in your blood is called your viral load. HIV means "human immunodeficiency virus."

If your doctor knows your viral load, he or she can tell more about your risk of health problems caused by HIV infection. A PVL test helps your doctor decide if it is time for you to start taking medicines for HIV or to change to different medicines.

All of these tests work well. Each of them can give a slightly different number for the amount of HIV in your blood. It is good to use the same test each time.

Changes in PVL are often called log changes. A log change means 10 times more or 10 times less than a previous PVL test result. For example, if your PVL test shows that you used to have 20,000 HIV copies per mL of plasma, a log change would be either an increase to 200,000 copies per mL or a decrease to 2,000 copies per mL.

The amount of HIV in your blood may change. That is why decisions about your HIV medicines are usually made after your doctor has checked 2 PVL tests done 2 to 3 weeks apart.

If you have not started taking medicines for HIV infection, your doctor will usually want to test your PVL several times a year to see if the amount of HIV in your blood is changing.

Your doctor might think about starting you on HIV medicines if your PVL is higher than 10,000 to 30,000 copies per mL. This is a complicated decision to make. Your doctor has to think about the other medicines you are taking and the other health problems you have. A PVL test result may lead to different decisions for every person.

Another measurement that can be taken with the PVL test is the CD4+ cell count. The CD4+ cell count helps to show how healthy your immune system is. When the PVL test score goes down, the CD4+ cell count usually goes up, although this might take some time. CD4+ cell counts can also help you and your doctor decide when to start or change HIV medicines. Your doctor will talk with you about the decision to start HIV medicines.

If you are already taking medicines to treat HIV infection, your doctor will want you to get a PVL test several times a year to make sure that the medicines keep working for you. If your PVL goes up, you and your doctor will have to talk about changing your HIV medicines.

Your doctor might also want you to have a PVL test if you get another infection or if your CD4+ cell count goes down.

It is usually best not to get a PVL test for 3 to 4 weeks after you have an immunization (a "shot") or for 1 month after you have an infection. Your PVL could be higher than usual at these times.

After you start taking HIV medicines or change to different medicines, your PVL should go down at least 1 log (10 times) in the first 1 to 2 months. Your PVL should keep going down after that. If the medicines are working for you, after 4 to 6 months your PVL will get so low that it will be almost impossible to detect. An undetectable level is good, but it does not mean that you are cured or that HIV is completely out of your body. Not everyone's PVL gets this low.

Special tests show that even people with undetectable levels of HIV still have very small amounts of the virus in their blood. So even if your HIV level is undetectable, you need to get PVL tests several times a year. You could still infect other people if you have unsafe sex (sex without a condom) or if you share a needle.