Glossary

ARV – a drug that works against a retrovirus, eg treatment for HIV. See: antiretroviral.

phenotype — relating to how an organism behaves, based on how its genotype relates to the environment. Phenotypic resistance tests look at whether HIV continues to grow in a test tube after increasing concentrations of a drug are added. See genotype.

steatosis – fatty liver. Build up of fat in the liver. Steatosis worsens liver damage and makes hepatitis C harder to treat.

IDU – injecting drug user

randomise – in research, this is a way of decide at random which participants join each group. So neither you or your doctor chose which group you join in a research study. A common example is that the decision would be made similar to tossing a coin.

More information from the i-Base guide to HIV research.