If HIV is "undetectable" due to meds...

[totallytheresa]

I am a student RN, and a good friend of mine was diagnosed as being HIV+ almost 2 years ago. At first he was completely freaking out (normal I'm sure), but within a few months got it together and worked with his doctor to get on the right meds. He also takes really good care of himself, diet, exercise, etc... My question is this- he told me that now, after taking meds, his Dr has told him his viral load is undetectable, so does that mean that if he went to say, the Red Cross to donate blood, would the HIV really be undetectable? Or do they look for other things? That's what I would assume, but I was wondering. Thanks!

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I believe when they screen blood they are looking for the antibodies your body produces in the presense of HIV, not the viral load. I don't know if the antibodies to HIV are affected by the meds or not. Good question.

[naggytabby, BSN, RN]

What a great question!!

When someone has HIV, 2 blood tests are done on a regular basis- the CD4 and the viral load. CD4 relates how well the body's own immune system is doing, as shown by the number of T4 cells. The viral load reflects how much of the virus can be detected in a sample quantity of blood. Thanks to today's meds, a viral load can be "undetectable"- that means the number is below 400. Just for reference, viral loads are tracked by logs( a mathematical computation) and the total number can go into the millions. Whereas with a high number the CD4 is better, the viral load is "better" with a lower number. So, even if someone has an undetectable viral load they still have HIV (as would be shown by antibodies in the blood) and the virus is still alive and kicking in other parts of the human body- dendritic cells, lymph tissue, memory cells, etc. BUT the prognosis can be excellent.

So: someone with HIV should never donate blood, body fluids or body parts, unless there is a reason to override this (ie I read that those with HIV could donate organs to others with HIV in a particular location- don't ask me where and don't flame me as I am not trying to incite a riot here!!!)

Continued good luck to your friend- hats off to him for taking great care of himself! :balloons:

[totallytheresa]

Oh, thank you so much for the info... I knew there MUST be a way to tell, that the virus just couldn't disappear, but wasn't exactly sure the details. It truly stinks very much that he has this disease, but he has come to terms with it, and treats it like any other chronic and lifelong disease- through taking care of himself and not putting others at risk. Finally,though! At first he treated it like a death sentence and was basically giving up.

[Shotzie]

Undetectable means less than 50 copies (per measuring unit..I just have forgotten exactly what unit is used!)