sanctuary site – see compartment site.
Glossary
Selected words and phrases
carcinoma – cancer in tissues covering or lining organs of the body, such as the skin, the uterus, the lung, or the breast.
Cardiovascular refers to the heart and blood vessels.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the general term for disease to the heart and related blood vessels.
long-term non-progressor (LTNP) – An HIV positive person whose CD4 count stays above 500 copies/mm3 with very low viral load for more than five years, without using ART.
Some LTNPs have kept their CD4 count above 500 for more than 10-15 years without ART. Recent guidelines suggest the LTNPs should still strongly consider using ART. This is because ongoing HIV replication is still likely to increase the risk of serious illnesses, even at low viral load levels,
Because CD4 counts gradually fall in LTNPs, just very slowly, a more accurate term is long-term slow-progressors (LTSPs).
Elite controllers (ECs) are a sub-group of LTSP who also maintain undetectable viral load (less than 50 copies/mL) without ART. See: elite controller.
base – (also called nucleotide) – the building blocks in DNA that form amino acids. There are four bases represented by the letters A (adenine), T (thymine), C (cytosine) and G (guanine). In RNA the T is replaced by U (uricil).