[1] If a viral load count is not stable or sufficiently low, then that might be a reason to modify the HIV treatment.
It is now standard of care in the United States to begin anti-retroviral treatment upon discovery of HIV positive status.
These potent medicines cannot cure an individual; they can however manage the virus and slow the progression of the HIV infection.
[citation needed] Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is the current recommended treatment for HIV.
As established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a person with HIV and a CD4 count below 200 or a CD4 percentage below 14% is considered to have AIDS.
A decreased CD4 count, in combination with higher numbers on a viral load test, indicates an increased risk of getting sick from opportunistic diseases.
[citation needed] The window period for a test is the amount of time from the initial infection event until the disease can be detected.
[7] Exposure to HIV, followed by replication of the virus, may take as long as six months to reach a level detectable in many testing methods.
[12] Researchers have questioned whether people who are told that they have a low viral load will respond to this information by lowering their use of safe sex practices.
[12] In January 2008, researchers from Switzerland published what would be termed the Swiss Statement, controversially arguing that HIV-positive individuals 1) on antiretroviral therapy, 2) with a viral load under 40 copies per mL, and 3) with no other sexually transmitted diseases themselves or in their partners could be assumed to not transmit the disease to healthy, HIV-negative partners.
Although Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing NAAT is more expensive and can take a week for processing, some have argued that it may still be a preferred way to screen for HIV.
[citation needed] There is at least one documented case of an HIV-positive individual with an undetectable viral load infecting his partner.
[citation needed] Nucleic acid tests are a typical way to measure viral load, including for HIV.
[30] The first step is specimen preparation, the second is transcription-mediated amplification (TMA), and the third is a hybridization protection assay (HPA) using single-stranded complementary chemiluminescent labeled probes.
If the HIV-1 probe finds and attaches to a HIV target the quencher molecule is released and the resulting fluorescent emission is measured.
In the FRET reaction, a donor and acceptor probe exchange excitation energy when within 1-5 base pairs (bp) on the target sequences.
Virus-associated reverse transcriptase (RT) activity is measured and can therefore detect all types and subtypes of HIV.