Treatment training for advocatesThere are about 10 main OIs that advocates should know about.
There are at least another 10 other important OIs that are less common.
For basic training you should learn about the OIs that are most common in your country. In countries where ARVs are widely used and earlier diagnosis is improving, many OIs are now rare.
What to find out about an OI
Type of infection
- Is it viral, bacterial etc?
- How it is acquired and avoided?
- Is it infectious to other people?
Main symptoms
- What are the symptoms (signs of illness)?
Symptoms are useful to identify OIs. Sometimes symptoms are enough to start treatment, based on a ‘best guess’ (called empirical treatment).
Many OIs have the same symptoms.
Most OIs can cause primary disease in a wide range of organs.
Diagnosis
- How is the infection confirmed by tests?
This usually means either testing blood, saliva or sputum (fluid from the lungs) or trying to grow a culture from one of these samples (which can take several weeks).
A definite diagnosis can be difficult or impossible. You may only know if the suspected illness was identified correctly if symptoms improve after treatment.
Treatment
- How is the illness treated? Are there choices?
- What is the success rate for treatment?
- Can treatment be stopped afterwards?
Most OIs, but not all of them, resolve after successful ARV treatment for HIV has helped CD4 counts to rise.
Prophylaxis
Prophylaxis means taking treatment to prevent an illness.
Secondary prophylaxis is where you continue a treatment after the illness is better to prevent it occurring again.
Research
- Are better tests or drugs being developed that could help in the future?
AIDS-defining infections for CDC clinical categories
Risk of opportunistic infections by CD4 count and effect of ARV treatment