* Corresponding author: Amos Dangana Copyright © 2023 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0. Assessments of viral load and haematological parameters in HIV patients on HAART in Ilorin, Kwara state Kadiri Khairat 1 , Mujahideen Ayinde 1 , Amos Dangana 1 , Igbinosa Favour 1 , Omosigho Pius 2 , Helen Daniel Nanbol 3 and Solomon oloche onoja 4 1 Medical Laboratory Service University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Gwagwalada Abuja, Nigeria. 2 Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Edo State University, Iyamho, Nigeria. 3 School Medical Laboratory Science, plateau State College of Health Technology pankshin Jos Nigeria. 4 Department of 4 epidemiology and evidence-based medicine, F, F, Erisma Institute of Public Health, I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Russia. International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2023, 10(01), 366–373 Publication history: Received on 16 July 2023; revised on 13 September 2023; accepted on 16 September 2023 Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.30574/ijsra.2023.10.1.0694 Abstract Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection represents the most common cause of acquired immune deficiency and leads to clinical disease referred to as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) are the gold standard for the management of HIV disease. Viral load indicates that treatment is effective. A high viral load in a person on treatment indicates either that the medication is not being taken properly or that the virus is becoming resistant to the medication. This is a comparative study aimed at assessing the Viral load count and haematological parameters. 120 HIV positive individual and 40 HIV negative subjects were recruited for this study,while haematological parameters were carried out using Sysmex KX-21 analyser. Results was analyzed using SPSS version 20. .Our result shows the following mean absolute counts of haematological parameters; lymphocyte count of HIV positive persons to be 1.42±1.82, Neutrophil 1.64±2.80, Monocyte 0.07±0.08, Basophil 0.05±0.06 Eosinophil 1.71±3.42 while the mean value of TWBC 5.130±1.43, RBC 3.97±0.48, HB 11.41±1.65, MCV 87.054±15.59 and MCHC MCHCf/l, compared to 0.78±0.08, 1.10±0.32, 0.06±0.02, 0.01±0.01 and 1.14±3.42 respectively among the HIV negative individual. In conclusion, we found that the use of antiretroviral drugs could positively or negatively affect haematological parameters, depending on the choice of combination used. Keyword: Viral Load; HAART; HIV; Full Blood Count 1. Introduction Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection represents the most common cause of acquired immune deficiency and leads to clinical disease referred to as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (Tracey, 2017). It belongs to the cytopathic retroviruses group and is known to induce damage or death to body cells. HIV-1 infects humans and chimpanzees with the development of AIDs only in humans. The majority of the infections worldwide involve HIV-1. HIV-2 was initially isolated in Senegal and is known to be endemic in many West African countries, but rarer in other continent (Cheesborough, 2010). HIV is a global health challenge with over 40 million people affected and a major cause of mortality worldwide (Kumar et al., 2006). The prevalence of HIV infection in Nigeria according to the technical report from the department of Public Health National AIDS/STI control programme is about 4.1 % (A N C H I V, Nigeria, 2010).The 2009 estimate of people living with HIV in sub-saharan Africa is 22.5 million. This represents about 70% of the global HIV burden with a mortality rate of 2.5 million deaths per annum (Tagoe and Asantewaa, 2011). (e.g tuberculosis) or lymphoma (Hoffbrandet al., 2006; Tagoe and Asantewaa, 2011). HIV infects the CD4 cells and in