The group with an AIDS-defining disease at the time of diagnosis with a CD4 cell count < 200 cells/mm3 and VL ≥ 55,000 copies/mL who started treatment within 1 month after diagnosis because of the presence of baseline anemia showed a short-term success rate of only 42% after treatment; the prognosis was the poorest for this group with a failure rate of 8.6%. This evidence concerns the gene CD4 and anemia.