Hep C Discussion Forum

 There is also discrimination here in the US toward HIV, much more so than HCV in my experience. I learned early to keep my mouth closed back in the days when I had a job, semi-personal acquaintances with others, and a lot of 'fair weather' friends. These days I'm disabled, on a fixed income, with no job and limited personal contacts and life is so much easier not having to 'hide' my status due to fear of loosing a job, friend etc.

Yes, I had a cd4 count done 3 times. On days 25, 57 and 350 after the encounter. The cd4 counts were 854, 450 and 421 respectively.

 I'm no Dr or health care worker but in my opinion, although a CD4 count of 421 is not necessarily a cause for concern, I would think this rapid decline of 854 to 450 (404) within 32 days is certainly a cause for further investigation by your doctor. It doesn't make sense to me to be the result of HIV infection because your antibody presence test have been consistently negative, but something is wrong IMO. I suppose your immune system could possibly be affected in a way that prevents it from producing antibodies within this 1 year window, but that is not normal and is not my experience.

Can you give some tips to hold myself together mentally. I am not any good at it.

Yes. See your Dr and have further test done to see if any other type of infection can be found, anything that involves the immune system. You need fact based test results to plan your next move on as well as eliminating all the possibilities that your mind can dream up. Those possibilities can be even much more of a physiological burden to deal with than the actual illness your worried about.

mindovermatter wrote:

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I am wondering if I also acquired hiv from the encounter.

My cd4 counts are low at 421.

 

I have taken 5 rapid blood tests for hiv the last one was one year after the exposure and it was negative.

My low cd4 counts have really been bothering me. Can Hep C treatment lower cd4 counts?

Can simultaneous coinfection with hcv delay hiv antibody production. I have read on a few sites that it can and I am very scare to be honest.

Do not have the courage to fight another disease. Would some of fthe experienced members please chime in?

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 Hi mindovermatter.

 I'm not very "experienced" or knowledgeable but I have some thoughts. Maybe a more knowledgeable member will chime in and educate us both.

Although CD4 counts for non-HIV infected individuals are generally higher than 421, and can be up to like 1600 or more, some can be as low as ~400.

I would think HCV treatment would have a negative effect on CD4 count and HIV VL, but I have not been able to find very much information about this. What little I have found suggest no significant reduction in CD4 count nor viral load in most cases. On the other hand, I've found a lot of information pointing towards HIV having many (some very significant) negative effects on the HCV virus and HCV treatment, but this would not concern you at this point.

 If it's been a year since the sexual encounter that has you worried, then, if infected, that is certainly enough time for seroconversion to occur and HIV antibodies to be present, therefore a positive rapid test result will be shown. Also the rapid (EIA) test has the potential for indicating false positives, but chances for failure to detect the antibodies is remote, so you can ease your mind if that was a concern.

 It's been over 20 years since I was tested using the rapid test, but I don't remember getting a CD4 count result. Where did you get your CD4 count of 421 from? Have you had a standard HIV screening test in which you had to wait a couple of days for the results to return from the lab?

Can simultaneous coinfection with hcv delay hiv antibody production. I have read on a few sites that it can and I am very scare to be honest.

 I say no. I suspect I was infected with HCV in 1985. Then I was infected with HIV in 1994 (I am certain of that) and was tested 6 months after that encounter with rapid test which showed positive result for HIV antibody. This is within the normal 6 month max time table given for HIV antibody production. So my answer to your question based on my own experience is no.

 I hope this eases your mind some. Maybe someone with more experience will be of more help for you and I.