- Sex - Another Sex Tutorial | Page 4

(the global\

AIDS incidence is a pandemic).
Pathogen: A substance or organism capable of causing disease.
Pathogenesis: The origin and development of a disease.
PeerCorps®: Dr. Chittick's favored prevention technique utilizing trained AIDS educ\
ators
doing outreach with peers.
Perinatal Transmission: Refers to HIV transmission from the mother to the baby during
birth (estimated to occur in one-third of cases, unless AZT is used).
Person with AIDS (PWA) or people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA): PWA is the term
commonly used to anyone living with HIV/AIDS.
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP): A lung infection that causes the greatest
number of deaths in people who are HIV positive. It is both treatable an\
d preventable.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR): A very sensitive test for the presence of HIV.
Prevalence: Commonly occurring infection of HIV or cases of AIDS in a population;
generally refers to all cases existing with an infection/disease (i.e.,\
HIV/AIDS) at a
specified period of time.
Promiscuous: Engaging in sexual intercourse with more than one partner (this dictio\
nary
definition, including the use of "indiscriminately," is not pejorative h\
ere, but refers to
multiple-sex partners over a relatively short period of time).
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Prophylactic: A preventive medicine, device or measure; often referring to condoms or\
a
dental dam.
Protease/ Protease Inhibitors: A substance in the blood that breaks down proteins.
Drugs that inhibit protease may stop HIV from breaking down the proteins\
it needs to
grow. Protease inhibitor trials involving PWAs are showing promise and t\
he first drugs are
being introduced.
p24 antigen: A protein fragment of HIV. The p24 antigen test measures this fragment.\
A
positive result from p24 antigen suggests that HIV is multiplying, altho\
ugh there is debate
about this.

R
Reality-Based: Term commonly used to describe explicit and detailed "sex ed"
curriculum with safer sex HIV/AIDS components (often used as the opposi\
te of
abstinence-only).
Resistance: The ability of a disease to overcome a drug. For example, after long-te\
rm
use of AZT, HIV can develop strains of virus in the body that are no lon\
ger suppressed by
this particular drug, and therefore are said to be resistant to AZT.
Retrovirus: A strand of RNA (ribonucleic acid) surrounded by a protein shell.
Retroviruses capable of infecting and causing disease in humans are rela\
tively rare (and
were only discovered in 1978). HIV is a retrovirus.
Reverse transcriptase: An enzyme that is crucial for HIV to grow and multiply.
RNA (Ribonucleic acid): A strand of nucleotides (chemical building blocks) that transmit
genetic information. RNA performs the same functioning in retroviruses t\
hat DNA does in
viruses.
S
Secondary Virgins: Young people who have had sex once or twice but then choose to
be sexually abstinent, often after learning about HIV/AIDS in sex ed cla\
sses.
Sero Dia Agglumination Tests: One of the early HIV tests to measure HIV antibodies in
the blood.
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another sex tutorial - GLOSSARY of HIV & AIDS
Seroconversion: After the initial introduction of HIV infection, when HIV antibodies ca\
n
be detected in the blood.
Seropositive: Refers to blood that shows traces of HIV antibodies (i.e., HIV-infecte\
d
persons, but without symptoms.
Seroprevalence: The number of a population or group (identified by their behaviors) w\
ho
are infected with HIV.
Sex Ed (Sexual Education): Education that deals with detailed sexual education for
teenagers (also referred to as comprehensive health education).
Sexually transmitted disease (STDs): These diseases include herpes, syphilis,
gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV/AIDS, and others. STDs make HIV easier to spre\
ad from one
person to another. Currently, the term sexually transmitted infections (\
STIs) is also being
used to refer to STDs.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs): A term now becoming more used among
medical professionals.
SIDA: French (and Spanish) acronym for Syndrome Immuno-Déficitaire Acqui\
s.
Spermicide: Used with some condoms (Nonoxynol 9 is a common spermicide) and birth\

control creams to kill STDs, HIV and sperm.
Surrogate markers: T4 cells are used as a surrogate marker in people who are HIV-
positive. The T4 cell count itself is not really a direct measure of HIV\
, but a declining
count is a sign that disease is progressing. The T4 cell count is then s\
aid to be a
surrogate marker for HIV. Different surrogate markers are being studied \
to see how well
they measure the progress of HIV.
Symptom: A change in the body's appearance or functioning (including mental and\

psychological changes) that indicates the presence of a disease or illn\
ess.
Symptomatic: A change in normal bodily function; i.e., HIV-positive person shows
symptomatic signs of AIDS.
Systemic: Affecting the whole body.

T
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another sex tutorial - GLOSSARY of HIV & AIDS
T4 cells: See T-helper cell.
T-helper cell (T4/CD4 cell): A type of white blood cell that activates T-killer cells and
helps stimulate antibody production. Physicians regularly measure T-help\
er cell counts
(CD4 counts) in HIV-positive people to monitor immune system function.\
The normal
range for T-helper cells is 480-1800, but may vary in individuals. HIV f\
irst enters cells by
attaching itself to