The title of this piece says a lot...
"Viral blips during HIV therapy are common and rarely signal treatment failure, Swedish study finds"
This study followed a cohort of 4,000+ patients for 5 - 11+ years. They found that on average a 1/5 of these patients would see at least 1 blip during that period. A viral blip is defined as a patient with previously undetectable levels or suppressed HIV, suddenly being detectable, then being undetectable again after the next scheduled testing.
The pathogenesis of blips isn't understood. It could be a lot of things. The most common finding was blips were more common among those having frequent, precise testing. By this they mean being tested every 3 - 6 months & the test had a threshold of 50 copies per ml. My blip came after the newer test lowered that number to 20. IMO, the more precise & available testing becomes, the more common blips are going to be.
As the title stated, blips are common & not necessarily a sign of treatment failure. Read this piece. It's a little lengthy, but informative.
Cya...
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