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Welcome to the Glossary of Commonly Used HIV/AIDS Terms! This feature provides a number of uses. Learn basic definitions, brush up on medical terms or provider lingo, or use the glossary as a reference guide in understanding the many acronyms found in the HIV/AIDS language. Whatever your needs, use the glossary to meet them.
Just click a letter below to see the terms listed.
| TA (Technical Assistance) |
The delivery of practical program and technical support to the CARE Act community. TA is to assist grantees, planning bodies and affected communities in designing, implementing and evaluating CARE Act-supported planning and primary care service delivery systems. |
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| Target Population |
A population to be reached through some action or intervention; may refer to groups with specific demographic or geographic characteristics. |
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| Thrush |
Sore patches in the mouth caused by the fungus Candida albicans. Thrush is one of the most frequent early symptoms or signs of an immune disorder. The fungus commonly lives in the mouth, but only causes problems when the body's resistance is reduced either by antibiotics that have reduced the number of competitive organisms in the mouth, or by an immune deficiency such as HIV disease. |
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| Transmission |
In the context of HIV disease, HIV is spread most commonly by sexual contact with an infected partner. The virus can enter the body through the mucosal lining of the vagina, vulva, penis, rectum, or, rarely, the mouth during sex. The likelihood of transmission is increased by factors that may damage these linings, especially other sexually transmitted diseases that cause ulcers or inflammation. HIV is also spread through contact with infected blood, most often by the sharing of drug needles or syringes contaminated with minute quantities of blood containing the virus. Children can contract HIV from their infected mothers during either pregnancy or birth, or postnatally, through breast-feeding. |
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