Wondering if anyone knows about these lab numbers I have. One of the test/lab that shows how many viruses in blood. Dr. Said that a number of 15 is normal and mine which he said is serious and very high is 680,000 viruses present in mine. Can anyone tell me anything about this. Currently in process of finishing up final lab work, now biopsy ordered. I hope I can get treatment started as soon as possible to get rid of this or under control.
Hello.
Your viral load is now quite high, but the effectiveness of treatment does not play any role. The main thing is to have a stable viral response. In different laboratories, the sensitivity of the PCR test system ranged from 10 UI / mL to 50 UI / mL. the higher the sensitivity, the better. All the failures in the therapy of hepatitis C are associated with mutations in the virus, which leads to low sensitivity to the drugs. In my practice (and this is 247 patients) there were cases when the virus with the mutation reproduced very slowly and the level of the viral load was 12 UI / ml. This low level of the virus was able to catch only the test system with a sensitivity of 10 UI / mL. But such complications arise in 10% of cases.
Actually, your viral load is not considered high.Viral load can flactuate and is not necessarily e measure of liver damage. I get theh impression that you have been diagnosed recently. Get in touch with the Hep C Trust, their helpline can give you all the information you need and perhaps reassure you as well. Why are you going for a biopsy and not a fibroscan, which is a non invasive procedure that is now used more commonly than the biopsy? Current antiviral therapies hold a 90-95% success rate and they are very short, 8-12 weeks.
I agree with the comment above, in that it is better to replace the liver biopsy with fibroscan. Or even make a biochemical method of determining the degree of fibrosis. In the treatment of direct antiviral drugs, the main role in the effectiveness of therapy is played by the genotype of the virus, and the degree of fibrosis affects therapy with the Metavir F4 scores. F0-F3 do not contribute to the treatment regimen.