2011

treatment-experienced – someone who has previously used anti-HIV treatments.

second-line therapy – the combination of used after your first treatment has failed.

salvage therapy – a term for the combination therapy used after someone has developed resistance to three or more classes of HIV drugs. Also called ‘third-line’ or ‘rescue therapy’ or ‘treatment of patients with multidrug resistance’.

mega-HAART – a term for a drug combination that uses five or more HIV drugs, usually including 2–3 protease inhibitors. Rarely used now.

genome – term for the complete genetic material (RNA or DNA) of any organism.

fold-change – a term relating to drug resistance after a phenotype resistance test. 4-fold resistance (also called a 4-fold loss in sensitivity) means you need to use four times the dose to get the same reduction in viral load.

expanded access programme (EAP) – a scheme that allows people to access a drug before it has been approved (but when approval is expected). EAPs are for people urgently need treatment as a life-saving option and who do o have …

confirmatory test – a second test to double-check the results of a previous one. For example, if your viral load is usually undetectable and then becomes detectable, you need a second confirmatory test. This is to check that the detectable …

base – (also called nucleotide) – the building blocks in DNA that form amino acids. There are four bases represented by the letters A (adenine), T (thymine), C (cytosine) and G (guanine). In RNA the T is replaced by U …

amino acid – a group of three bases (or base pairs) that are the building blocks for proteins and peptides. There are 26 naturally occuring amino acids. List of amino acids and their abbreviations DNA codes for amino acids

The first issue of HTB in 2011 is now online. We lead with reports from the first (yes, 30 years into the epidemic), first workshop on HIV and women. Conference reports also include exciting news on a new TB medication …

We are asking readers to help us by completing a short online survey about HIV Treatment Bulletin (HTB) and other i-Base services: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8QQLN6X Your feedback is really important to us. Please take a few minutes to help us understand how …

This new and updated treatment guide includes information about changing treatment. The main focus is on treatment failure because of drug resistance. This booklet will help explain: Why your treatment failed. Which tests you need and what the results mean. …

It is with great regret, sadness and anger that we report that David Kato, a prominent Ugandan human rights activist, was murdered in his home in Kampala yesterday. A vigil is being organised at 11am on Friday 28th January outside …

The English edition of this bulletin on Antiretroviral Treatment for Intravenous Drug Users is now online and available as a PDF download. The Russian language edition will be distributed within two weeks. ARV4IDU is funded by the Open Society Institute. …

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 …

The first issue of HTB Turkey (HIV Tedavi Bülteni – Türkiye), a new Turkish-language information periodical has been produced by an independent group of Turkish doctors, activists and health care workers. HTB Türkiye.1 2010 PDF (2MB) Based on the i-Base …