GoodSamaritan

Hello... I had asked this question to an expert doctor and this reply I got....
Thought I will share it here with you guys

Question: If a person was experiencing ARS and a blood count was taken a week after the ARS started, usually what abnormalities could one see?



Answer: You have asked a very relevant question. Many respiratory/gastrointestinal/hepatitis viral infections and also Typhoid and Malaria are associated with a low white cell count (leucopenia) in the acute phase. Acute HIV infection is also associated with an acute leucopenia. If this situation is connected with a high risk sexual or other exposure to infected blood/injecting paraphernalia within the last 2-8 weeks prior to the test, then HIV infection should be considered as a possibility and diagnosis would have to be made by different forms of testing for viral antigens (P-24 antigen), viral count and immune cell counts (CD4/CD8 T-lymphocyte cell count series).

During the ARS (acute retroviral syndrome), like a lot of viral infections, there is a tendency for the white blood cells to reduce in number. The target cells of the HIV are lymphocytes that consitute around 30% of the WBCs. During the acute infection, following initial bursts of viremia, there is a significant loss of T-lymphocytes and this causes the initial drop of the WBC count. Thereafter, over weeks and months, the WBC count stabilises, but the CD4 T-lymphocytes gradually decline in numbers over several years. Swollen glands, if large, can be seen as abnormal contours in the area of their normal distribution, or if there is significant gland capsule stretching, they may be painful and thus easy to locate.