Glossary

antibiotic – drug used to treat bacterial infections. Sometimes they work against other kinds of infection.

haematology – study (-ology) of blood (haema-)

SVR (sustained virological response) – having a negative HCV viral load test 6 months after stopping HCV treatment. The response, 6 months after treatment is stopped, determines whether treatment has been effective in terms of clearing HCV. SVR is the most important result from an HCV treatment trial. See ETR.

pharmacokinetics – the study of how drugs are absorbed, metabolised and cleared from the body.

surrogate marker – A surrogate marker is when something that is easy to measure is used as a marker for something that is difficult to measure directly.

The CD4 count doesn’t directly measure HIV. But it is a good surrogate (or indirect) marker for how HIV has damaged your immune system. It is closely linked to the risk of HIV-related complications.

Viral load in blood is a good surrogate marker for levels of HIV in your body overall including in other body sites.