HIV-1 Viral Load Test in Pune

What is HIV-1 Viral Load test?

The HIV-1 Viral Load Test is a blood test that is used to monitor active number of HIV virus particles in HIV-positive patients. The test is used by doctors to decide on medication dose and judge how well treatment is progressing in HIV positive patients.

What is HIV and HIV-1?

HIV is a viral infection that spreads thorugh contaminated body fluids and weakens the immunity and defense of the body

There are different types of HIV infection, and nearly 90% of HIV infections belong to the HIV-1 subtype.

Who should do this test?

This test should be done by people who are known to be HIV positive, on advice of their treating physicians. The test is done to make sure that HIV virus count is below safe limits.

When to do this test?

This test is meant to check whether HIV infection is under control. This test is ideal for the following situations:

• Treatment Response: Your doctor wants to know how well your HIV treatment is working. The HIV Viral Load will help determine future treatment
• Know Stage of HIV: Based on the viral load, doctors can judge how much HIV has progressed. Higher viral loads are usually seen in advanced and more serious cases.

How is the test done?

This is a simple blood test and requires no special preparation. You do not need to be fasting for this test.

To perform this test, a sample of blood will be drawn from your vein, by inserting a sterile needle. The blood sample will then be analyzed in the lab.

What will be included in the report?

The report includes the total copies of HIV-1 viral RNA per ml of blood. If the number of viral RNA copies is less than 40, it will still be reported as zero, as this is the threshold of test detection.

Also note that the test can detect a maximum of 10000000 copies of RNA/ml. If the number is higher than this, it will still be reported as 10000000

Test Accuracy and Earliet Possible date of detection

The test can detect as few as 40 copies of HIV-1 Viral RNA. This makes it very accurate

Note that, the test cannot detect less than 40 copies of HIV-1 viral RNA, so there is still a small chance that the patient may be positive and the test may report no virions detected.

What is the normal range for this test?

The normal range for HIV-1 Viral Load Test is Not detectable (<40 copies/ml) of blood

Summary

Sample Type	Blood
Time to Get Report	Upto 2 weeks
Test Method	Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR)/ Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology
Normal Range	Not detectable (<40 copies/ml) of blood
Purpose of test	Quantify HIV-1 Viral RNA load
Intended for	All genders, all ages
Fasting Required	No
Total Tests	1
Doctor's Prescription Required	Yes
Reports Available By	PDF available through Watsapp,Email and Hardcopy(on request)
Other Names	HIV-1 Viral Load Test