Archives

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, …

NASBA (nucleic acid sequence based amplification) – a type of viral load test.

resistance – when the genetic structure of an organism (virus, bacteria, fungi etc) changes in a way that stops a drug from working. See mutation. Changing treatment and drug resistance.

mutation – a change in the genetic structure of an organism (including a virus like HIV). See resistance. Changing treatment and drug resistance.

multi-disciplinary – a team approach to care, involving several different professionals.

morbidity – medical term for illness.

mortality – medical word for death or dying.

monotherapy – using only one drug.

MSM – men who have sex with men.

mixed feeding – combination of breastfeeding and bottle feeding.

mitochondria – energy producing factories that live inside other cells.

mL (millilitre) – a measure of a volume of liquid. 1000 millititres = 1 litre.

mg (milligram) – abbreviation for milligram. 1000 milligrams = 1 gram.

methadone – a man-made opiate that used to treat heroin addiction. See also buprenorphine.

meningitis – inflammation (-itis) of the meninges (part of fluid that surrounds the brain). Meningitis can be caused by different infections – ie bacterial meningitis (from bacterial infection), viral meningitis (form a virus) etc.

Tmax – the time taken for a drug to reach the highest (maximum) concentration. What happens when you take a drug?

T1/2 (half-life) –  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 …

Minimum Effective Concentration (MEC) – the lower level of a drug in the body that will still be effective. What happens when you take a drug?

median (average) – where the results are all arranged in numerical order and the middle of the range is taken as the (median) average. See mean. What is an average.

mean (average) – where all the results are added together, and then divided by the number of results to find the (mean) average. See median. What is an average.