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Viral load, also known as viral burden, is a numerical expression of the quantity of virus in a given volume of fluid, including biological and environmental specimens. It is not to be confused with viral titre or viral titer , which depends on the assay.
A count of the viral load is routine before the start of HIV treatment. [1] If the treatment is not changed, then viral load is monitored with testing every 3–4 months to confirm a stable low viral load. [1] Patients who are medically stable and who have low viral load for two years may get viral load counts every 6 months instead of 3. [1]
The higher the viral load at the set point, the faster the virus will progress to AIDS; the lower the viral load at the set point, the longer the patient will remain in clinical latency, the next stage of the infection. The asymptomatic or clinical latency phase is marked by slow replication of the HIV virus, followed by steady depletion of CD4 ...
Virus quantification is counting or calculating the number of virus particles (virions) in a sample to determine the virus concentration. It is used in both research and development (R&D) in academic and commercial laboratories as well as in production situations where the quantity of virus at various steps is an important variable that must be monitored.
Suppressing the viral load to undetectable levels (<50 copies per ml) is the primary goal of ART. [56] This should happen by 24 weeks after starting combination therapy. [83] Viral load monitoring is the most important predictor of response to treatment with ART. [84] Lack of viral load suppression on ART is termed virologic failure.
The viral load of an infected person is an important risk factor in both sexual and mother-to-child transmission. [67] During the first 2.5 months of an HIV infection, a person's infectiousness is twelve times higher due to the high viral load associated with acute HIV. [65]
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The progression of HIV infection is analyzed by measuring the concentration of HIV virions (or viral load) and the concentration of CD4 T cells in the patient's bloodstream and lymphoid tissues. An untreated infection will progress in the following phases: Acute phase, chronic phase, and AIDs phase.