Glossary

cryptococcus (crypto) – a fungal infection. Can cause meningitis.

natural history – the pattern a disease follows if it is not treated. The natural history of HIV includes very high viral load in the first weeks or months of infection (seroconversion), a drop in CD4 counts that then recovers, and then a slower progressive increase in viral load and decrease in CD4 count, that eventually lead to opportunistic infections.

Natural history graph and more details.

NRTI – Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor, a type of HIV drug – also called ‘nuke’ or ‘nucleoside analogue’.

3TC (lamivudine). abacavir, AZT, FTC (emtricitabine), d4T (stavudine), ddI (didanosine) all belong to this class.

Tenofovir DF and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) are a nucleotide analogues which is similar enough to be counted as part of this class.

Drug targets in the virus life cycle.

BMI (body mass index) – a calculation using  height and weight that is used to decide whether someone is over or under weight.

Online BMI calculator.

interaction – when two drugs react to increase or decrease one or both drugs, often in ways that are unexpected or potentially harmful.