OBJECTIVETo study the usage of viral load and CD4+ cell count methods in evaluating the effects of clinical treatment in HIV infected people.

METHODSTotally 73 cases of HIV infected persons were studied with clinical observation and laboratory examinations, six cases were treated with cocktail therapy, 36 cases with chinese herbs and the other 31 cases were untreated.

RESULTSThe results indicated that the viral load levels in cocktail therapy group were significantly lower than the other two groups within 3 months and then kept at very low level. The CD4+ T lymphocyte levels showed a significant increase after 3 months and kept rising up. The chinese herb group, however, had no significant difference in viral load level and CD4+ T lymphocyte level as compared with untreated group. But in clinical observation chinese herbs showed the effect of improving clinical status in some cases.

CONCLUSIONSThe authors conclude that the viral load and CD4+ count are efficient methods in clinical evaluation of HIV treatment, especially in routine anti-HIV therapy. As for the chinese herbs treatment, these two monitors did not reflect changes in clinical status.

Anti-HIV Agents ; therapeutic use ; CD4 Lymphocyte Count ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Follow-Up Studies ; HIV Infections ; drug therapy ; immunology ; virology ; Humans ; Phytotherapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Viral Load