A high viral load is generally considered about 100,000 copies, but you could have 1 million or more. The virus is at work making copies of itself, and the disease may progress quickly. A lower HIV viral load is below 10,000 copies.

What is low viral load?

Viral load refers to the amount of virus in an infected persons blood. This is expressed as the number of viral particles in each milliliter of blood. Higher viral load can have different implications for different viruses but typically means the infection is progressing.

Does viral load affect transmission?

Multivariate analysis showed that for each log10 increase in viral load, the odds of onward transmission increased by 30%. The team also found that a high viral load among asymptomatic contacts was strongly associated with the risk of developing COVID-19 symptoms.