Glossary

RNA – an abbreviation for the scientific word for genetic material found in some types of viruses. It is the abbreviation for ribonucleic acid. It is very similar to DNA but is single-strand rather than the double-strand in DNA. See DNA.

dyspepsia – a range of symptoms related to digestion problems that can include pain, nausea, heart burn. vomiting and pain in the stomach or upper intestine.

symptom – a sign of illness.

CD4 cells are white blood cells in your immune system. CD4 cells signal to CD8 cells to destroy a virus. CD4 cells are also used by HIV as factories to reproduce in.

codon – the word for the junction on genetic material (DNA or RNA) occupied by three nucleotides (or bases) to form an amino acid. In HIV it is most used when refering to drug resistance. There is an amino acid at each codon and the codons are numbered (starting from 1) for each section of the HIV gene. For example the mutation M184V in RT refers to a mutation change at codon 184 in the reverse transcriptase gene.