Glossary

genotype (or genotypic) – This term has several common uses:

1. a general term for the molecular structure of a living organism or virus.

2. a test that looks at the structure of an organism of virus (ie genotype resistance test looks for changes in the virus structure – called mutations).

3. a category for different types of similar viruses – ie hepatitis C has many subtypes, referred to as genotype-1, genotype-2 etc. HCV genotype is the strongest predictor of response to hepatitis C treatment.

See also phenotype.

lipid – medical term for fat. The term ‘blood lipids’ refers to cholesterol and triglyceride levels in blood.

primary mutation – see major mutation.

ribavirin – drug used to boost the efficacy of pegylated interferon to treat hepatitis C. Given as twice-daily capsules.

median (average) – where the results are all arranged in numerical order and the middle of the range is taken as the (median) average. See mean.

What is an average.