Search Menu

Glossary

Selected words and phrases

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome – a type of severe rash that is luckily rare. This rash has been reported in 0.1–0.3% of people using NNRTIs. It can also occur with other drugs including antibiotics (including cotrimoxazole/Septrin). Any rash on an NNRTI should be shown to your doctor to decide whether treatment needs to be switched or can continue.

BMI (body mass index) – a calculation using  height and weight that is used to decide whether someone is over or under weight.

Online BMI calculator.

internal fetal labour monitoring – where an electrode is inserted through the vagina and placed on the baby’s scalp to record the baby’s heart rate during labour.

superinfection – another term for reinfection.

natural history – the pattern a disease follows if it is not treated. The natural history of HIV includes very high viral load in the first weeks or months of infection (seroconversion), a drop in CD4 counts that then recovers, and then a slower progressive increase in viral load and decrease in CD4 count, that eventually lead to opportunistic infections.

Natural history graph and more details.