October 2009

substitution therapy – using a prescription drug, eg methadone or buprenorphine, to stop using heroin.

study population – the group of people in a study.

STI (sexually transmitted infection) – other STIs include herpes, gonorrhoea and syphilis etc.

standard deviation (SD) – the standard deviation from a mean average, is a measure of the degree of variation from the mean.

spinal tap – See lumbar puncture.

side effect – an unwanted effect from taking a medicine. Sometimes called an adverse event or drug toxicity.

SIDA – the abbreviation for AIDS in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

severity – a measure of how bad something is.

seroreversion – the word for when the baby born to an HIV-positive mother, no longer has the mother’s antibodies to HIV.

seroconversion – the immune reaction when you develop antibodies to a new infection. HIV seroconversion usually starts a couple of week after infection. Because this is when viral load is very high (often millions of copies/mL), this is when symptoms …

sarcoma – medical term for cancer that affects bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, skin or other connective tissue. Cancer: lymphoma and sarcoma.

sanctuary site – see compartment site.

ritonavir – a protease inhibitor (PI) that is now used boost levels of some other  HIV drugs, especially other PIs.

retrovirus – a family of viruses that includes HIV.

retinitis – inflammation of the retina (in the eye). CMV retinitis is an HIV-related infection that can cause permanent vision loss in someone with a CD4 count that is below 50 cells/mm3. CMV section of the training manual.

resistance tests – tests to show changes to HIV that are associated with drug resistance. Genotype resistance test looks for genetic changes. Phenotype resistance test see whether individual drugs are still active when placed in a test tube with HIV. …

range – the highest and lowest results in a group. Range is used together with median (average). See IQR (interquartile range).

quantitative (in a study) – where what is being measured has a numerical value or fits a pre-defined scale or range of responses.

qualitative (in a study) – where what is being measured either fits one of several categories, or includes descriptive results.

pulmonary – relating to the lungs.