fungus (fungi) – parasitic organisms that include moulds, mildews, mushrooms and yeast.
Glossary
Selected words and phrases
viral load test – a test that detects whether a virus is present (qualatitive) or that measures the amount of virus (quantitative).
This is usually in a sample of blood, but a viral load test can also be used to check viral levels in other samples including genital fluid, semen or spinal fluid.
Results are given as the number of copies of virus in a millilitre of blood (copies/mL).
lymphocyte – medical term for a white (clear) immune cell in blood, lymph or lymph tissue. Two main types of lymphocyte are B cells and T cells. CD4 cells and CD8 cells are both types of T cells. Sometimes a CD4 count is referred to as a CD4 T cell count or a T cell count.
obstetrics – a branch of medicine that refers to the care of women during pregnancy.
half-life (T1/2) the time taken a drug to clear from the highest concentration to half this level. Drugs have different half-lives in different compartments (ie half-life in blood can be different from the half-life inside a cell). It take 5 x the half-live for a drug to be considered cleared.