Glossary

benign – not harmful.

stage (staging) – the stage of hepatitis infection refers to the amount of scaring (fibrosis), from results from a biposy. It is usually measured on the Metavir scale of 0 to 4, where 0 represents no scarring and 4 cirrhosis, or on the Knodell scale of 0 to 6, where 0 is no scarring and 6 cirrhosis. See grading.

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.

pharmacokinetics – the study of how drugs are absorbed, metabolised and cleared from the body.

neonate – a baby that is 0 to 28 days old.