Glossary

lymphocyte – medical term for a white (clear) immune cell in blood, lymph or lymph tissue. Two main types of lymphocyte are B cells and T cells. CD4 cells and CD8 cells are both types of T cells. Sometimes a CD4 count is referred to as a CD4 T cell count or a T cell count.

DEXA – a non-invasive scan that can measure the percentage of different body areas (whole body, trunk, right leg etc) that are muscle or fat. DEXA scans cannot determine if this is central fat (visceral adipose tissue, VAT) or sub-cutaneous fat (under the skin).

DEXA scan also can measure bone density and is used to monitor risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis.

half-life (T1/2) – the time taken a drug to clear from the highest concentration to half this level. Drugs have different half-lives in different compartments (ie half-life in blood can be different from the half-life inside a cell). It take 5 x the half-live for a drug to be considered cleared.

HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus

intrapartum refers to the last stages of during pregnancy when the baby is born. These are labour and delivery (or chold birth). Intrapartum can refer to both the baby and the mother.

See: antepartum and postpartum.