HIV disease is a serious global health problem and a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It has recently been estimated that more than 30 million adults and 1.1 million children are infected with HIV; it is expected that 40 million people will have acquired the virus by the year...

HIV/AIDS currently affects about 31 million people worldwide. Many infected people do not receive proper care because of a lack of resources or education about current treatment options. Even where treatments are available, they are often not optimal because of poor adherence, adverse events or...

Objective: To evaluate the cost effectiveness of a new product, oral ganciclovir, in comparison to a current therapy, intravenous (IV) ganciclovir, in the maintenance treatment of newly diagnosed cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in patients with AIDS. Design: This was a retrospective economic...

This review of published studies on the costs of HIV treatment and care describes some of the recent developments that have influenced these costs in industrialised and industrialising countries, especially within the context of changing drug treatments. Some of the different approaches to...

In the absence of interventions, 20% of infants born to women infected with HIV acquire infection from their mother at or before delivery. A further 15% are infected through breast feeding. Prenatal testing for HIV allows infected women to be reliably identified so that they can receive...

The development of mutations associated with resistance to antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been shown to be a major cause of treatment failure in patients infected with HIV-1. These resistance mutations can be assessed by a genotyping test that probes for specific mutations within the HIV...

As care for HIV/AIDS becomes more concentrated within specific providers and organisations, it would be useful to have indicators to describe the quality of care. This paper reviews concepts related to quality of care, and practical issues including sampling and risk adjustment. Indicators can...

According to the WHO, approximately 350 million people have chronic hepatitis B. Individuals with chronic hepatitis B have a highly variable and unpredictable clinical course and are at risk for developing cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Lamivudine is the only oral antiviral agent...

Antiviral treatment of herpes zoster is controversial because of uncertain benefits and relatively high costs. Most studies show that antiviral therapy lessens acute herpes zoster symptoms and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Current clinical recommendations support antiviral treatment of severely...

With limited financial resources available, it is now becoming more acceptable to evaluate medical innovations in terms of incremental economic value. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of enteroviral meningitis and to summarise the economic literature to identify relevant costs...