Q: Could you please advise me when an HIV positive patient needs to start medication? I need to know the count when a blood test is done. What level should the count be, 200 or 500?

A:Generally speaking every opportunistic infection in an HIV positive patient, treatment must be treated as soon as possible and treated completely. This is very important, and as or more important than anti-retrovirals. The starting of anti-retroviral treatment is ideally decided by the treating doctor but it is generally not recommended until the CD4 count falls below 200.