• Specialty
  • Cardiology
  • Dentistry
  • Dermatology
  • General Medicine
  • GI/GU
  • Hematology
  • Immunology
  • Lab Medicine & Pathology
  • Neuro-Psych
  • OB-Gyn
  • Oncology
  • Ophthalmology
  • Orthopaedic
  • Otolaryngology - ENT
  • Radiology
  • Surgery

• GI/GU
  • Cancers & Tumors - GI/GU
  • Digestive Terms
  • Diseases - GI/GU
  • Feedings - GI/GU
  • Herbs - GI/GU
  • STD Terms
  • Syndromes - GI/GU
  • Tubes - GI/GU
  • Sample Reports - Urology
  • Sample Reports - Gastroenterology

• STD Terms

- V -

• Vaccine

A suspension of infectious agents or some part of them, given for the purpose of establishing resistance to an infectious disease. It stimulates development of specific defensive mechanisms in the body which result in more or less permanent protection against a disease.



• Vagina

The muscular canal between the uterus and the outside of the body.



• Vaginitis

Inflammation of the female vagina.



• Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV)

The cause of chicken pox in children. Its reactivation in adults causes shingles (see).



• Viral Load

The number of viral particles (usually HIV) in a sample of blood plasma. HIV viral load is increasingly employed as a surrogate marker (see) for disease progression. It is measured by PCR and bDNA tests (see) and is expressed in number of HIV copies or equivalents per milliliter.



• Viral replication

The process by which a virus makes more copies of itself.



• Viral STDs

Viral STDs, including genital herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B, and HIV (the cause of AIDS)



• Viruses

Small living particles (much smaller than bacteria) that can infect cells and change how the cells function. Infection with a virus can cause a person to develop symptoms. A virus is a noncellular entity composed merely of genetic material (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein envelope. Viruses can reproduce only within living cells into which they inject their genetic material. The viral genes then subvert an infected cell's normal chemical processes to create new virus particles, usually killing the cell in the process. The disease and symptoms that are caused depend on the type of virus and the type of cells that are infected.