HIV 2 Viral Load Test

The various indications for getting hiv 2 viral load test done are:

• Once a person is diagnosed with HIV, he should undergo this test to get a baseline measurement of viral load in plasma. This will help the doctor to compare his results after the treatment with the earlier viral load.
• This test can guide your doctor in implementing changes in your medication course.
• This test can also determine how effective your antiretroviral treatment is.

However, it is important to note that if your viral load remains undetected after the course of the treatment, it does not indicate that you are cured. The virus has the tendency to survive in various cells in the body, but infected patients with undetectable load have normal, or near-normal life span. Moreover, these patients should continue to take their medicine as prescribed to keep the virus role undetectable.

While there is no effective and definite cure for HIV, most people can control the virus replication within six months of receiving proper treatment therapy.

Your healthcare provider can ask you to take this test to confirm a diagnosis of monoinfection by HIV-2 or coinfection with HIV-1. This diagnosis can guide the treatment plan.
HIV 2 viral load test for HIV-2 DNA detection is also crucial for the early detection of infection in infants born to HIV-2-seropositive mothers.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) is a lentivirus, a retrovirus similar to the genus as HIV-1. This has an endemic status in West Africa, where it was first isolated. Other regions that have a majority of cases include the northeastern United States. However, there are several reports that have indicated the presence of HIV-2 infection in India too.

HIV-2 infection in contrast to HIV-1 infection has a slower rate of progression, low viral load, slower rates of decline in CD4 cell count, and lower rates of transmission. This low viral load may not be appropriately measured with methods used in the past and the RT-PCR test is considered a much more sensitive test.

It has been estimated that up to 95% of HIV-2 in infected individuals do not have long-term complications, and patients with undiagnosed HIV-2 viral load have similar survival rates as that of the normal individual. However, it can cause AIDS with the same signs, symptoms, and opportunistic infections observed in HIV-1.