viral load test – a test that detects whether a virus is present (qualatitive) or that measures the amount of virus (quantitative).
This is usually in a sample of blood, but a viral load test can also be used to check viral levels in other samples including genital fluid, semen or spinal fluid.
Results are given as the number of copies of virus in a millilitre of blood (copies/mL).
syphilis – an STI that is a bacterial infection, usually transmitted by sexual contact. Untreated, syphilis can cause serious injury to an unborn baby.
BI – budding inhibitor. Class of HIV drug.
TasP (Treatment as Prevention) – a term to emphasise the impact that HIV drugs (ART) has on dramatically reducing the chance of HIV transmission.
ART is firstly for the health of the HIV positive person. But having an undetectable viral load on ART makes it so difficult to transmit HIV that the risk gets so close to zero that it is effectively zero.
For example, in the PARTNER study, nearly 900 couples had sex more than 58,000 times without condoms, without any transmissions. Each couple included one person who was HIV positive with an undetectable viral load on ART and one person who was HIV negative. ZERO transmissions.
Q12H (or q12H) – an abbreviated term for timing medication doses.
q8H means every 8 hours.This is not the same as three times a day (tid or TD).
q12H means every 12 hours. This is not the same as twice-daily (bid or BD).
q24H means every 24 hours. This is not the same as once-daily (qd or QD).