Glossary

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?

phenotype test – a type of drug resistance that tests whether a drug is sensitive or resistance to a sample of HIV.

reverse transcriptase – an enzyme unique to HIV. It is used to convert single-strand RNA into double-strand DNA. This is needed before HIV’s genetic material can be integrated in the human DNA. HIV drugs that stop this process are called reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs).

minor mutation – a drug resistance mutation that have a big impact on whether a drug continues to work. This used to be called a secondary mutation.

obstetrics – a branch of medicine that refers to the care of women during pregnancy.