Glossary

seroreversion – the word for when the baby born to an HIV-positive mother, no longer has the mother’s antibodies to HIV.

acute infection – early infection (first few months with HIV).

retinitis – inflammation of the retina (in the eye). CMV retinitis is an HIV-related infection that can cause permanent vision loss in someone with a CD4 count that is below 50 cells/mm3.

CMV section of the training manual.

reverse transcriptase – an enzyme unique to HIV. It is used to convert single-strand RNA into double-strand DNA. This is needed before HIV’s genetic material can be integrated in the human DNA. HIV drugs that stop this process are called reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs).

minor mutation – a drug resistance mutation that have a big impact on whether a drug continues to work. This used to be called a secondary mutation.