Know about lab tests

There are 3 lab tests commonly used by healthcare professionals to know if your HIV medicines are working.

Lab Tests

Viral load tests measure how much HIV is in the blood. A goal of HIV treatment is to decrease viral load as low as possible.

CD4+ cell count tests measure how many of these immune cells are in the blood. A goal of HIV treatment is to see this count increase, or remain, at an appropriate level.

Resistance testing is sometimes done when a person taking HIV medicines has an unexpected increase in viral load. This test can tell whether the HIV has become immune to those medicines.

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