Hepatitis Forums
Hepatitis C Main Forums => Living with Hepatitis C => Topic started by: hopefulAries on October 06, 2014, 04:54:36 pm
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My viral load before treatment was 331,000.
I don't understand what the viral load is. Does this determine how long I have had hep c? because I have no idea how long I have had it. Does it determine how badly my liver is affected?
After 2-3 weeks of treatment, my viral load is not detectable.
I went today to get another viral load done. I finished my S/O 4 days ago. I will keep you posted on the results. Have a good day everyone!
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Hi hopefulAries,
First, congrats on being undetected - this is a big milestone!!!
To answer your question, a viral load is a measure of the number of virus present in your blood. Viral loads can wax and wane (increase/decrease) over time, and aren't used to measure how long a person has been infected with Hep-C.
In addition, a viral load does not correlate with liver damage - you can have a very low viral load and significant liver damage; or an extremely high viral load with no liver damage whatsoever.
Viral loads are simply a measure to confirm an active infection.
Best wishes, Mike
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Thanks for the info.