Rethinking CD4+ T cell counts for individuals who recently seroconverted to human immunodeficiency virus

The distribution of initial CD4+ T lymphocyte counts for individuals who have recently seroconverted to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is broad. We review major articles describing CD4 cell counts shortly after documented HIV infection and discuss both the possible sources of variability in these studies and the clinical importance of recognizing that even recently infected patients may have low CD4 cell counts and thus will require therapeutic intervention with antiretroviral agents or prophylactic antibiotics.