viral load 11 million

[luckybritbrit]

Is this high? what are the ranges.  i want to thank all the people who responded to my first question. i have never been on a nicer site. God Bless all of you'ens

[ladybug52]

So was mine! Initially I kept counting it wrong and didn't realize it was that high, but all turned out well as I cleared in 07.

Godd luck.

[newleaf09]

It's high but viral load only has significance in a couple of ways.  If it were very low, say under 800,000 (some doctors consider 400,000 to be 'low'), it might mean patient has a chance of clearing the virus from the blood early in treatment.  The other significance is the use of the viral load numbers to judge how responsive the patient is to interferon.  If it makes big drops at each PCR test, you know you are making good headway with the therapy.

High viral load does not mean the patient is any sicker than another patient or that his virus is any stronger or weaker than another.  It's mostly just a useful reference point for an individual's response.   Eureka's reference sites on viral are the best on the web for understanding viral load.

[eureka254]

It's not unusual to see viral load in the millions -- blood test sensitivity ranges from <2 IU/ml to hundreds of millions.  The viral load does jump around a bit, too -- as example, my husband's pre-treatment ranges were anywhere from a little over 1 million to over 17 million.  A website that explains a little about viral load different ways its is measured:
http://www.hepatitis-central.com/hcv/hepatitis/loadchart.html

If you find you need general information about hep c, some good places to start:

http://www.janis7hepc.com/
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/

Hope that helps. Welcome to the forum. ~eureka