Treating HIV throughout the body

In order to effectively control HIV, the virus must be suppressed in all parts of the body, not just in the blood where viral load is usually measured. Although some HIV resides in CD4 cells circulating in the bloodstream, it can also hide in the lymph nodes, gut, brain, testicles and other ‘reservoirs’ elsewhere in the body.

This is an important treatment issue because some drugs do not penetrate into these other ‘compartments’, thus allowing HIV to continue to replicate. Having a viral load below 50 copies/ml in the blood does not necessarily mean the virus is also undetectable elsewhere in the body. Even if HIV is suppressed in the blood, the virus can escape from these other areas and start the replication cycle all over again.

This content was checked for accuracy at the time it was written. It may have been superseded by more recent developments. NAM recommends checking whether this is the most current information when making decisions that may affect your health.