Starting treatment

	Question: What is your current viral load?   <50 or undetectable 51 - 500 501 - 5000 5001 - 10,000 >10,000 I do not know

 

Not everyone starts treatment at the same time

Not everyone who is diagnosed with HIV starts treatment right away. Medical experts have written HIV treatment guidelines. These guidelines advise when patients should start treatment. They also suggest which medicines to use. Your healthcare provider will use these guidelines to help you decide the best time to start taking HIV medicines. The decision will depend on:

• How healthy you are
• How much virus is in your blood (known as your viral load)
• The strength of your immune system—the system that protects your body from viruses, germs, and disease.
• The more CD4 cells you have in your body, the better your immune system works. CD4 cells fight infection. HIV destroys CD4 cells, and that hurts your immune system. A weak immune system makes it very hard for your body to fight germs and infections. A CD4 cell count is the number of CD4 cells found in a blood sample

Before you talk to your doctor, it's important to understand the differences in HIV medicines. Here are the five types of treatment:

• Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)
• Integrase inhibitors
• Protease inhibitors (PIs)
• CCR5 inhibitors
• Fusion inhibitors (FIs)

Treatment is unique for each patient. Learn how these HIV medicines work

Find out more about CD4 cell counts and viral load.

HIV treatment guidelines

Here are the US government guidelines that healthcare providers follow when helping their patients decide when to start HIV treatment:

Start HIV medicines when a person with HIV has:

• Severe HIV symptoms or an illness linked to AIDS (with any CD4 count or viral load)
• A CD4 cell count less than 200 (with or without symptoms)

Offer HIV medicines when a person with HIV has:

• A CD4 cell count between 200 and 350

Think about starting HIV medicines when a person with HIV has:

• A CD4 cell count higher than 350 and a viral load greater than 100,000

Wait to start HIV medicines when a person with HIV has:

• A CD4 cell count higher than 350 and a viral load less than 100,000

The higher the CD4 count, the better. Learn about how HIV affects CD4 count

Next >> Treatment plans and goals