Glossary of HIV/AIDS Terms
This glossary contains 1,600 terms and is maintained by the editors of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's Bulletin of Experimental Treatments for AIDS.
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failure to thrive: a condition in which a child loses or fails to gain weight and grows at a slower rate than expected.
fallopian tube (aka oviduct): one of the tubes leading from the ovaries to the uterus, through which an ovum (egg) travels.
false-negative: an incorrect negative result; a negative test result for a person who in fact does have the disease or condition being tested.
false-positive: an incorrect positive result; a positive test result for a person who in fact does not have the disease or condition being tested.
fat soluble: capable of being dissolved in lipids; fat-soluble compounds are not easily excreted by the body. Compare with water soluble.
fatigue: excessive tiredness.
fatty acid: a blood lipid; an organic molecule made up of a hydrocarbon chain and a carboxylic acid group. Fatty acids are classified as saturated, monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated, depending on their chemical structure.
FDA: See Food and Drug Administration.
febrile: having a fever or increased body temperature.
fecal-oral route: a route of transmission of infectious organisms that involves the ingestion of food or water contaminated by fecal material.
fellatio: oral sex on a man; sexual contact between one person's tongue or mouth and a man's penis or scrotum.
fibrates: a class of drugs (e.g., fenofibrate [Tricor], gemfibrozil [Lopid]) used to reduce elevated triglyceride levels.
fibrosis: the development of fibrous tissue; a type of liver damage in which fibrous tissue replaces normal cells.
first-line therapy: the preferred standard treatment for a particular condition.
fissure: a crack or tear in the skin or a mucous membrane.
flare: a sudden, acute worsening of disease symptoms.
flatulence: intestinal gas.
floater: a moving spot that appears in the field of vision.
flow cytometry: a method of analyzing cells in which cell properties are detected as cells flow in a narrow stream through a measuring device.
folic acid (aka folate, aka vitamin B9): folic acid helps prevents neural tube defects in fetuses. See vitamin B.
Food and Drug Administration (acronym FDA): the U.S. federal agency responsible for regulating the development, use, and safety of drugs, medical devices, food, cosmetics, and related products.
foreskin (aka prepuce): a fold of skin covering the head of the penis; may be removed by circumcision.
formulary: a list of approved or available drugs.
fortovase: soft-gel formulation of saquinavir.
fosamprenavir (brand name Lexiva): a protease inhibitor drug approved for use as part of combination antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV disease; fosamprenavir is a prodrug of amprenavir that reaches higher therapeutic drug levels in the body.
frank: full-blown; clinically apparent.
free radical: a molecule that contains at least one unpaired electron. Free radicals are highly reactive and can bind with other molecules, potentially initiating a chain reaction as successive molecules lose and gain electrons; the theft of electrons by free radicals can disrupt normal cellular processes and cause cellular damage (oxidative stress).
FTC (generic name emtricitabine, brand name Emtriva): a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor drug approved for use as part of combination antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV disease.
fulminant: refers to an unusually severe or aggressive form of a disease.
fungemia: presence of fungus in the blood.
fungus (plural fungi): a class of organisms that includes yeasts, molds, and mushrooms, several of which can cause disease in humans.
fusin: See CXCR4.
fusion: a union or joining together into one entity.
fusion inhibitor: See entry inhibitor.
Fuzeon: brand name of T-20.
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