Question:

When first diagnosed, both my wife and I had viral loads greater than 100,000. We think we know where we got it, do our identical viral loads and strains mean we got it together?

Answer provided by:

Donna Sweet, M.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine
University of Kansas School of Medicine - Wichita

Having the same strain would indicate that you were probably exposed from the same source or that one of you contracted the disease from the other. The Viral load is not an indicator that is reliable to predict time of exposure as it varies from person to person. Similar CD4 counts might indicate that you were both infected at approximately the same time.

061020
ASKD061008

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