This section briefly reviews current knowledge regarding HIV infection and its treatment. Click or tap a sub-section title to navigate to the full section content.
2.1 What do rehabilitation professionals need to know about the stages of HIV infection?
Rehabilitation providers have a role in caring for people living with HIV throughout the course of the infection and subsequent chronic health condition. In this section, we introduce the stages…
2.2 What do rehabilitation providers need to know about CD4 count and viral load?
CD4 count and viral load are two of the surrogate markers (clues) used to understand disease progression in HIV. These measures will help a rehabilitation provider understand a patient’s immune…
2.3 What is the impact of HIV on body systems and why does this matter for rehabilitation providers?
HIV is a complex and multi-system disease that causes a range of conditions that can affect almost every single body system. However, antiretroviral therapy has contributed to HIV-positive people living…
2.4 Who might rehabilitation providers treat?
The Public Health Agency of Canada HIV surveillance program regularly reports on HIV cases in Canada. The link to Canadian surveillance data is here: HIV 2019 Surveillance Highlights. A more…
2.5 What do rehabilitation providers need to know about antiretroviral therapies?
Although rehabilitation providers do not prescribe drugs, the effects of pharmacological treatments (both good and bad) experienced by people living with HIV can impact rehabilitation goals. The goals of HIV…