Hi Iris, It"s getting close to September, Are you getting closer to a treatment plan? I hope so!    As for the V/L numbers being all over the place I have heard that we can produce a billion or so on any given day and our systems kill them daily by the millions. My loads have been from 326 thousand in 2002, to 8,650,000 in 1999.    1n Dec 2010 it was 4,650.00 in 2001 it was 531,000   .  At the end of my treatment my V/L was   zero  . One week post treatment it was 18,000,000    .   Try not to focus so much on the V/L it changes daily.  When its low you body is doing a good job of fighting it off. Remember also that our immuno systems do work, but the virus is just a little faster  at making than we ar at killing it.   RC

Hi Iris,

The reason the viral loads are so accurate is the result of the new sensitivity, which results in better accuracy. It seems they're able to determine as few as <7 - 15 viral particles. The machines are able to count individual particles now, which results in those precise numbers.

I wouldn't worry about the viral count. It's well known to fluctuate, sometimes wildly. The virus can flare sometimes and we witness spikes in the VL count. You can also experience periods of calm (immune response), when it drops. Currently, the only thing I'm aware of, pertains to viral counts above 6 million. That count and above disqualifies you for the 8 week DAA protocol, if you were treatment naive. Viral load doesn't otherwise impact your chances to achieve SVR.

Try and not worry, you'll get this resolved this time. HTH! 

So, just got my latest pcr RNA, it's  2,495,879

Either they made a big mistake last time, or I have just replicated a whole ****load of virus since May. Could such a rediculous mistake like that happen, like leaving the last 3 zeros off or what? 

 Sheeze, 

Additionally I don't  believe I have ever seen such a precise number, what's  up with that? I suppose I'm out of the loop, my last many viral load tests just had zeros after.

Bb, Iris 

That's sensible, albeit discouraging reason. 

Also ....dr. was saying those with a lower viral load have a better chance at responding to treatmen??t? Sorry I haven't  had a chance to keep up with the board

thanx, Iris

Iris,

I agree. Regular VL testing doesn't make much sense. A pre-Tx VL will be useful if short treatment durations are contemplated.

I know several cirrhotics. Some have failed Tx, some have SVR and others are waiting for the new DAA's to be approved. One thing I notice is that cirrhotics tend to have fairly low VL's.

We often see members with high VL's (5M-30M). My theory is that the VL drops when the number of healthy liver cells drops dramatically- i.e. cirrhotics have fewer hepatocytes available for replication sites. Also, the disease is well established, and the acute flares of inflammation are less frequent. It just rumbles along.

You have had chronic HepC for a long time. Have you checked your liver status with a Fibroscan or biopsy? It may be worth doing to see whether treatment is required. Cheers.

If it doesn't mean much ...why the heck test for it???  I mean it went down 3 MILLION in a year, that is a way bigger fluxuation than a few hundred thousand.

bb, Iris

Hi Iris,

Good to hear from you.

The VL is a strange beast, and goes up and down as the disease runs it's course of acute flares then stabilization.

Just for interest, here are some of my VL results up until I started treatment.

May 2008: 1.7M

April 2009: 854,000

Feb 2010: 1.01M

Feb 2011: 298,000

Feb 2012: 1.28M

I know it's good to see, but I don't think it means much. Cheers.

Hi folks! Long time no see.

I recently had my standard check up, testing C panel and a1c, (still in the pre diabetic range)

They also did a viral load.

Since I have been having this test (first one was in 1999) the range has always fell in the millions. From the low 1 millions up to 3 million...It always went progressivly higher, the test in spring of last year was 3 million and some. The test came back in the 2 hundred-thousands!!!! Dr.s eyebrows went up, I asked what on earth would cause that...course she had no answer. Too bad, I would like to do more of whatever made it lower.

Any ideas? 

Also they just started treating there at the clinic!!!! Maybe my days of driving to USC to maybe be on their treatment list is over?!?! 

I ll know more by September.......so excited!

many blessings, Iris