Variations in viral load still under investigation
Smart, T.
Gmhc Treatment Issues the Gay Men's Health Crisis Newsletter of Experimental Aids Therapies 9(9): 12-14
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 1077-1824 PMID: 11362905 Document Number: 444844
It is argued that viral load may be an unreliable marker in individual patients. Researchers suggest that more must be known about the variability of assays, like polymerase chain reactions, before they are used to manage patient care. Currently, there is very little published data on the stability of viral load in individual patients, and some studies have shown conflicting results. A number of ongoing and future studies are being designed to resolve how advisable it is to alter individual patients' therapy on the basis of viral load results. An Aaron Diamond Institute study is assessing the strengths of Chiron's bDNA assay, and the Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS is evaluating the benefits of switching therapies when there is at least a three-fold change in viral load, as compared to switching therapies as a result of changes in CD4 counts.