Abstract: Objective To analyze the correlation of CD4+ T cell level with HIV load and opportunistic infections in AIDS patients with type 1 human immunodeficiency virus(HIV-1). Methods The plasma load of HIV-1 RNA was detected using real-time PCR OBASAmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan automatic viral load meter (Roche), and CD4+ T lymphocytes were counted by flow cytometry (FACSCOUNT) absolute counting method for 95 patients with AIDS of HIV-1 infection. Results The majority of the patients with HIV-1 type AIDS were mainly married male farmers with low education level at the age of 35-50 years. They got the infection mainly through sexual transmission. Opportunis tic infections most commonly occurred in the respiratory system (90 times, 51.5%) and bacterial pneumonia accounted for the highest incidence (48 times, 27.4%). Based on CD4+ T lymphocyte count level the opportunistic infections were divided into 5 groups. Bacterial pneumonia, Pneumoaystis carrii pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, oral Candida infection, cryptococcal meningitis, infectious diarrhea and herpes simplex were significantly different among the 5 groups (P < 0.05). When CD4+ T cell count was less than 200/μl, the incidence of opportunistic infections was 97.7%. Among the AIDS patients with virus load < 103 copies/ml, most of the individuals had CD4+ T cell count of 200-399/μl (75%); while the virus load ≥ 105 copies/ml, most of the patients had CD4+ T cell count < 200/μl (45 cases, 73.8%). CD4+ T lymphocyte count and viral load were in a negative correlation (r = -0.34, P < 0.01). Conclusions The incidence of opportunistic infection is high in AIDS patients. As the viral load increases, CD4+ T lymphocyte count declines to various degree. CD4+ T cell count is the independent risk factor for opportunistic infection in AIDS patients. Close monitoring CD4+ T cell count in ADIS patients is an important means of predicting opportunistic infections.