Q: I am a 31 years old man who had been diagnosed with chickenpox and myelitis four months back. I was hospitalised for the treatment of the same. On the second day of my hospitalisation the blood sample was sent for CD4 count and the result came below normal (around 400). It has been more than 2 months since I have been discharged. I repeated the CD4 count test and the results were- total leucocytes – 5900, CD3 (T Cells)% - 72, CD3 (T Cells) Absolute – 1777, CD4 (HelperT Cells)% - 34, CD4 (HelperT Cells) Absolute – 851, Haemoglobin - 14.3 and platelet – 254. Kindly help me interpret the results. Do the counts show any signs of improvement?

A:CD4 cells are Helper T-cells and they express both CD3 and CD4. Significant changes in T-lymphocyte subsets during the acute phase of chickenpox infection, including a suppression of CD4+ T-cells and an augmentation of CD8+ T-cells is known. The levels usually get normalised a month later; usually there is no persistent CD4 suppression after chickenpox.

As far as your results are concerned they may be interpreted as under:

Test - Total Leucocytes – 5900 (reference interval - 4000-10000), CD3 (T Cells)% - 72 (reference interval - 60-90), CD3 (T Cells) Absolute – 1777 (reference interval - 625-2460), CD4 (HelperT Cells)% - 34 (reference interval - 32-68), CD4 (HelperT Cells) Absolute – 851 (reference interval - 423-1724), Haemoglobin - 14.3 (reference interval - 15+ 2), Platelets – 254 (reference interval - 150000 – 450000).

If you look at the biological reference interval, the values are well within the range indicating that they are normal and clearly with respect to your previous results the values have definitely improved.