2 Virology, HIV and viral load

2.9 History of viral load tests

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In 1995 viral load tests could only measure down to 10,000 copies/mL. By 1996-7 the next generation of tests could measure down to 400 or 500 copies/mL. Since 1998 the most routinely used tests can measure down to 40 or 50 copies/mL. Some tests used for research are even more sensitive (down to 5 copies/mL).

In the 1990s, viral load tests were a new technology being developed as a research tool during .

Before viral load tests, many researchers thought that HIV was a dormant infection that only became active after man years of infection.

Viral load tests showed that HIV was never a dormant infection. It is a gradually progressive viral infection that is always active.

Without viral load tests it is possible that combination therapy would never have been developed or understood.

When viral load tests were first developed many doctors thought that it would be impossible to measure the progress of a disease on an individual level. But viral load tests now allow doctors to do this.