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Glossary

Selected words and phrases

partially active – the HIV treatment in question will work against this virus but this is reduced compared to wild-type HIV. This is the same as partial resistance, or intermediate resistance etc.

nuke – a common term for NRTI

fusion inhibitor – a type of HIV drug (an entry inhibitor). Fusion inhibitors stops HIV ‘fusing’ to a CD4 cell. T-20 (enfuvirtide, Fuzeon) is only currently licensed fusion inhibitor.

Drug targets in the virus life cycle.

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)’.

virological failure – the term for when viral load levels never reach undetectable, or if they rebound to higher levels after previously being undetectable. See clinical failure.