Hickman line – a fixed central line that is used to deliver IV drugs close to where they are needed in the body.
Glossary
Selected words and phrases
mixed feeding – combination of breastfeeding and bottle feeding.
jaundice – a common symptom of hepatitis where increased levels of bilirubin lead to a yellowing of the skin or eyes.
sarcoma – medical term for cancer that affects bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, skin or other connective tissue.
elite controller (EC) – if your viral load stays undetectable for more than five years without ART you are an elite controller.
Elite controllers also have a very good CD4 count (always above 500 cells/mm3) that stays at a similar level over many years.
Even with this good immune response, ART is still generally recommended in the long-term.
This is because over decades – some ECs have been undetectable for more than 20 years – there is a concern that low level HIV in different body compartments like the brain, might lead to accumulative serious damage that isn’t easy to detect until it is too late.
This is a real concern, though evidence is limited because of the rarity of ECs.
See: long-term slow progressor (LTSP)/long-term non-progessor (LTNP).