Glossary

Adherence: Taking your medications regularly as prescribed by an HCP.

AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

AIDS-defining infection or condition: Also known as opportunistic infections or conditions. These are usually illnesses that a person not infected with HIV normally wouldn’t get.

Antiretroviral drugs: Also referred to as ARVs. Antiretroviral drugs help to manage and control the virus by slowing down HIV’s ability to replicate.

APTIVUS/r: Combination of APTIVUS® (tipranavir) capsules taken with Norvir® (ritonavir).

CD4+ cells: Also known as T cells, CD4+ cells are part of your immune system. They identify and fight infections and other diseases that invade your body.

Chronic hepatitis B infection: A serious disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). It is mostly transmitted through contact with blood and other bodily fluids, including sexual contact.

Chronic hepatitis C infection: A serious disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). It mostly affects people who share needles, have been on dialysis, have liver disease, or go through frequent blood transfusions or sexual contact.

Combination therapy: APTIVUS/r must be used with at least 2 other anti-HIV medicines. This is referred to as combination therapy.

Genotypic test: A test to see if the HIV virus has developed mutations that may be resistant to certain medications.

HAART: Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy. Three or four anti-HIV drugs with different methods of working are taken together to avoid resistance.

HCP: An HCP, or healthcare provider, is the doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or other healthcare professional that is responsible for your HIV care.

Hemophilia: An inherited disease that prevents the blood from clotting properly.

HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV infects healthy immune cells and prevents them from protecting the body from infection and disease.

Immune system: Defends your body from infection and disease. HIV and AIDS can harm the functioning of your immune system.

Lipid: Another word for cholesterol and/or triglycerides.

Phenotypic test: A test to see if a drug is effective against your virus by measuring the amount of a specific drug needed to keep the HIV virus from reproducing.

Protease inhibitor: A class of anti-HIV drugs that work by blocking protease, an enzyme in a virus that helps it make copies of itself.

Regimen: When used in the context of treatment, a regimen is a combination of medications taken together. It can also be called a “cocktail.”

Replicate: When used in the context of HIV, replicate is the word used to describe the action that HIV cells undergo when they make new copies of themselves.

Resistance: A change in the virus that makes HIV medications work less well.

Undetectable: Reducing the amount of HIV in your blood to a level so low that routine testing cannot detect it—a goal of anti-HIV treatment.

Viral load: The amount of HIV in a sample of blood.