WHAT is a T-CELL?
T - lymphocytes are white blood cells that play an important part in our immune system.There are main two types of T-cells :-
A. One type has molecules called CD4.
B. The other T-cell have molecules called CD-8.
The HIV virus can attach itself to the CD4 molecule allowing the virus to enter these cells. Even though you may feel well millions upon millions are destroyed each day and millions more are reproduced to replace those that are destroyed.
CD4 COUNTS
CD4 counts are used to see how much virus is in the body. Always remembering that only about 2% of the virus is in the blood system. The rest being in the body tissue ie. the Lymph nodes.
A normal blood count of someone who is negitive is between 600 and 1200.
A blood count of someone who is positive will quiet often be around 500. When the count starts to fall [ slowly in most cases ] in time, this is normaly because the virus is increasing in the body.
If your count [ CD4 ] is persistently below 500 and dropping you are more likely to be at risk of some type of infection. If your count falls to about 200 you may be more likely to be at risk of infections like PCP [ a type of pneumonia that positive people can get ] .
If your CD4 count starts to fall below about 250 your Doctor should/may talk to you about starting treatment.
