Glossary

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

stage (staging) – the stage of hepatitis infection refers to the amount of scaring (fibrosis), from results from a biposy. It is usually measured on the Metavir scale of 0 to 4, where 0 represents no scarring and 4 cirrhosis, or on the Knodell scale of 0 to 6, where 0 is no scarring and 6 cirrhosis. See grading.

compensatory mutation – this refer to an additional mutation, usually in the context of the fitness of a virus. For example, the mutations that stop a drug form working often stop the virus from reproducing as well. Additional mutations that return the virus to it’s former fitness are called compensatory mutations. They compensate for the reduced viral fitness. See revertant mutation.

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.

Resistance tests.

cancer – disease caused by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells.