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By: Ronald Bugarin Every newly diagnosed Person Living with HIV (PLHIV) has to absorb a wealth of information about their journey towards and in treatment.  Among the multitude of terms to remember, most commonly used are “ CD4 Count ” and “ Viral Load ” but what do these terms really mean and how important are they to every PLHIV who are on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) ? CD4 Count CD4 cells (also known as T-cells, or T helper cells) are white blood cells that fight off infections that enter the body.  Its main function is to send signals upon entry of a virus or bacteria to other types of immune cells, including CD8 cells to fight off the cells infected by bacteria and viruses. Upon successful HIV transmission in the body, the virus enters the CD4 cells and replicates after which, new copies of the virus will then be released and attaches to other CD4 cells. This ultimately opens the body to possible opportunistic infections due to the continuous decline of the CD4 and CD8 cells. CD4

By Carlos Diego A. Rozul From the booming sounds during a party to the gentle whispers from a significant other, the sense of hearing plays a significant role in making our days more vibrant. For hearing people, it is an essential to understand and appropriately respond to verbal communication. In recent years, researchers [1] in the field of HIV care has put their attention towards the hearing health of people living with HIV (PLHIV). A 2013 integrative review by Assuiti, Lanzoni, dos Santos, Erdmann, and Meirelles [2] revealed that there was not enough evidence for a direct association or implication of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and hearing loss, however they suggested to investigate the associated factors further due to inconclusive data. Image retreived from https://www.flickr.com/photos/photobythomas/11535403595/in/album-72157644872472185/ Hearing Complaints among PLHIV According to van der Westhuizen, Swanepoel, Heinze, and  Hofmeyr [3] PLHIV were more likely to report audi