dont understand genotype/viral load....HELP

[thickm]

i dont understand what all this means!  i hear yall talk about this alot so i know someone on here will know!  i asked the dr about this and he said i am genotype 2 and my viral load before treatment was 1.5 million.  i am taking my 3rd shot tommorrow! how long is treatment usually for genotype 2 and is 1.5 million VL really bad!!!

[Trinity4]

I must disagree with you that high viral load indicates a lower chance of success.  UND may occur faster for those will lower viral loads, however, SVR totally depends on how the body responds to the medications.  Many posters have started out with a vl in the 500,000 cleared at 4 and relapsed after 24 or 48 wks.  It's all about the body's ability to fight off the virus.
Trin

[Texas714]

Don't let that vl scare you.  I'm type 2 also.  My vl was 45 Million.  But at 4 weeks I tested und.

[Bill1954]

Here is a good lay tutorial on Gentoype:

http://janis7hepc.com/Genotypes.htm#what%20is%20a

and one on Viral load:

http://janis7hepc.com/Viral_Loads.htm#Viral%20load%20explained

Keep in mind, however, that most labs today express viral load in IU/mL; this article is somewhat dated.

Read these, and get back to the forum here with further questions—

Bill

[scruples]

Most coomonly there are 6 types of hepc virus (1-6) Genotype 1 is hard to treat and normally take 48 weeks treatment while Gen-2 & 3 are considered easy to treat and normal treatment is 24 weeks. In some case who are superresponders, treatment may be shorten to 16 weeks for Geno 2 & 3. Ask your doc about Super/Rapid responder.

Viral loads suggest the quantity of virus in your blood. A virus load which is less than 400,000 iu/ml (some says less than 600,000 iu/ml) are considered as low viral load and have greater chances to be Super Responder. VL greater than this cut off have equal chances and actual thing how tx is affecting you. You should get your viral load quantified after 4 weeks of treatment and it will tell how tx is affecting the virus.

During Tx take healthy food and drink a lot of water. it not only decreases the Sx but will also keep you safe from de-hydration.

[Odin999]

Treatment is usually 24 weeks for GT2, GT 2 is usually one of the easier to treat varieties.

Viral load is a count of virus particles in your blood. It is useful for predicting treatment response and measuring how well the drugs are working while you are on TX. Viral load does not tell you anything about liver damage. The only way to really check your liver condition is to take a sample - a liver biopsy. Saving your liver from damage is the most important goal of treatment. Don't freak out about viral load, be aware of it only in relation to treatment effectiveness.

A higher viral load does indicate a lower chance of success, but if TX is going to work it can do so even with extremely high viral loads. I think you are close to the high/low cusp. It depends on the unit of measurement and there is some difference of opinion on the cut off point. Some one else may give you more precise info on that.

The main thing, since you have started treatment, is to know how fast the viral load is decreasing. Make sure that you AT LEAST get a 4-week viral load test. If the virus is undetected at that time, or earlier, you have a great chance of success. If not, then predicting the success rate is more involved.