Glossary

mortality – medical word for death or dying.

treatment-naive – someone who has never taken any anti-HIV treatments before. (Note: people who are treatment naive can still be resistant to anti-HIV drugs if they were infected with a drug resistant strain of HIV}.

codon – the word for the junction on genetic material (DNA or RNA) occupied by three nucleotides (or bases) to form an amino acid. In HIV it is most used when refering to drug resistance. There is an amino acid at each codon and the codons are numbered (starting from 1) for each section of the HIV gene. For example the mutation M184V in RT refers to a mutation change at codon 184 in the reverse transcriptase gene.

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

amino acids – amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. DNA codes for amino acids. Three nucleotides (segments of the genetic code) make one amino acid. Amino acids are critical to life, and have many functions in the way your body works.