maternal-foetal microtransfusions are when small amounts of infected blood from the mother leak from the placenta to the baby during labour (or other disruption of the placenta).
Glossary
Selected words and phrases
secondary mutation – see minor mutation.
ribavirin – drug used to boost the efficacy of pegylated interferon to treat hepatitis C. Given as twice-daily capsules.
specificity – when referring to the accuracy of a test result, specificity refers to the proportion of people who do not have an illness or disease who have a negative test result.
If a test has low specificity, the concern is over false-positive results – where people who to not have a condition are wrongly diagnosed as having it.
If a test has high specificity, then people who to not have a condition are correctly ruled out from the condition.
For a serious condition, high specificity is essential to prevent people being unnecessarily treated.
See sensitivity.
axis – line on a graph to measure data. Graphs usually have a vertical axis (y-axis) and horizontal axis (x-axis). An axis should show what is being measured and the units of measurement, eg ‘time (in minutes)’.