What is VL

[IndianSummerOakland]

I've been diagnosed sick since 1997 but i don't know what VL is, maybe once i hang for a while i will understand more.

[Dee1956]

Hey there, above posters are right on.
I had my VL go from 12M to 5M before tx but it did not mean anything. Oh well.
Good luck to you
Dee

[Tekelcat]

Yes, VL = viral load ---- the number of virions or viral particles you have in your blood per whatever the unit of blood measurement is. Almost meaningless in terms of disease, though as desrt says, when you treat VL is closely watched to see how many of the virions are dying or how much of the copy cycle has being shut down. Some think that the higher your VL, the more infectious your blood is if it comes into direct contact with HCV-free blood. I'm not sure about that --- I think it comes from HIV science, and HCV and HIV are two very different viruses. You VL goes up and down all by itself, sometimes by enormous amounts.

[desrt]

VL is viral load. The # doesn't mean that much until you start treating, then it's used to track how the meds are working.
Here's a list of abbrevs:

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Hepatitis/Hepatitis-C-Acronyms-Abbreviations/show/3?cid=64