Johns Hopkins HIV Treatment Short Guide

The 2002 Abbreviated Guide to Medical Management of HIV Infection, by John G. Bartlett, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is a quick reference for medical professionals -- "intended for bedside clinical management decisions. The parent text, Medical Management of HIV Infection, provides the scientific foundation for recommendations." It came out six months later and is more up to date than the parent edition from which it was derived. Well-informed patients may use either book to check on details, understand background of their treatment and why certain tests and other procedures are important, and find recommended information sources. No guideline can consider all individual cases, however, and experienced physicians will often have good reasons for doing things differently; we would certainly trust a specialist's decision over a document. But for the increasing number of patients who are getting inadequate care due to financial obstacles and a dysfunctional medical system, references like these can help in advocating for oneself.

The Abbreviated Guide is easy to get hold of. It is free on the Web, or you can order copies for $5.

Some of the topics covered:

• Information sources -- about 20 Web sites and hotlines.

• About 60 pages of drug profiles, including not only antiretrovirals but also many other drugs that are often used in treating persons with HIV. Adverse effects are noted here, and in a separate section as well.
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• Chapters on hepatitis C, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, other opportunistic infections, and other complications.

• A section on pain management, based on the World Health Organization model for chronic cancer pain.

• A list of abbreviations, and an index.

The book can be read online as a PDF file at the Johns Hopkins AIDS Web site, http://www.hopkins-aids.edu. A paper copy is available for $5 through the same site, but the online version may be easier to read because you can change the viewing size of the type. You can save or print a copy locally, for viewing when you are not online.

Note: When looking up a page in the table of contents if you are using the PDF version and reading the computer screen, add 7 to the page number to find the page in your PDF file viewer. That's because there are 7 introductory pages in the file before page 1, so the page numbers as seen by the viewer and as printed in the book differ by 7.

ISSN # 1052-4207

Copyright 2002 by John S. James. Permission granted for noncommercial reproduction, provided that our address and phone number are included if more than short quotations are used.

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This article was provided by AIDS Treatment News. It is a part of the publication AIDS Treatment News.

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