A number of 381HIV-I patients referred to our diagnostic laboratory during 3 yearswere evaluated with respect to viral load using COBAS Taqman RT-PCR method. The viral load of these patients were correlated with CD4 count, CD4 and CD8 ratio, age and gender for their better understanding of severity of disease, viral resistance and antiretroviral therapy (ART). The data revealed that with this Taqman, the minimum viral load detected was <47 Copies/ml. However, our patients (298/381) viral load ranged from <47 to 1×107C/ml in 298 cases (78.21%). Among four age groups, 21-60 year aged cases were affected maximum with a dominance of males. Similarly, cell count also showed similar trend and could be correlated to active participation of males in daily activities like sex, life styles etc. The ratio of male to female was 2:1. Hence, our experience conclude that Taqman method is better than other older techniques with attractive cost and better understanding of the disease and its treatment in future with minimum viral load detection and also matched with other correlates.
