The number of people dying of AIDS has fallen dramatically since effective anti-HIV treatment became available in the mid/late 1990s. However, even in the United Kingdom and other European countries where there is widespread use of anti-HIV drugs people still die of AIDS.

The cancer non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has become a lot more rare in HIV-positive people due to HIV treatment, but it accounts for about a quarter of AIDS cases in countries like the UK. HIV-positive people who develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma normally have very low CD4 cell counts.

A French study has now found that having a high viral load for a long period may be a risk factor for the development of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. However, they also found that the risk declined after six months of being on anti-HIV therapy. Unlike other studies, the French doctors did not find that the lowest ever CD4 cell count or CD8 cell count were risk factors for developing lymphoma.