Hi ethan,
Welcome to the community! I have been with hepbcommunity since it began and I am always overwhelmed by all the information, so you are in good company… lol
I just wanted to say hi and welcome you and let you know that one of the @HealthExperts will be responding soon.
Welcome again,
-Paul
Hi Ethan, my understanding is that a first exposure to the hep b virus can take 4-6 months to clear from your body. Therefore, if one tests HBsAg negative after 6 months, then I would expect you are negative. Four months could be a bit soon to be definite, but again, it’s likely you could be negative. To be conservative, I would recommend getting tested again after 6 months. In addition, you would want to be tested for the full hep b panel and if the results are the same as below, then it would be indicate that you’ve recovered from an exposure to the hep b virus. Hope this helps and keep us posted. Always, Joan
Hi Ethan
Welcome to out community and be assured of our support. I agree with what @Joan says save to remind you that exposure to hep b does not translate to obvious infection and I doubt if you can have symptoms of a deases which you test negative.
Further, I think your concern is on the incubation period for hep b virus. This can only be answered by an expert and they are not scarce here.i am also eager to be informed appreciately here although I have read it is 3 months.
Kinoti
Hi Ethan,
Yes I agree with Joan,
Repeat full serology (as above) at 6 months to be sure, as otherwise it can be difficult to interpret.
Kind regards
Mark Douglas (Infectious Diseases specialist)
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your warm welcome. And I surely believe now that I am in good company with everyone trying to help others.
Hi Joan,
Thank you so much for your help. I will do hep b Panel test after 6 months as you have told.
Kinoti & Mark Thanks for the help. And yes Kinoti, it’s likely that I am not infected but the reason I am cautious is all other test results (HIV & Urine Panel for STI) were negative. So I want to be sure as I am feeling some symptoms. Thanks for your kind words.
My greetings to everyone
Dear Thomas Tu and members.
As always helpful.
Please help me interpret this.
LIVER: There is minimal increased liver size measuring 17.5 cm and hyperechogenicity in the liver parenchyma, with loss of the highly reflective edges of the peripheral portal vein and not appear intrahepatic portal vein. no Ascites, and no mass lesion noted.
AFP is 18.
HBV DNA less than 20IU/
AST (IU/L) 41.5 reference range 5–49
ALT (IU/L) 35 IU/ML with reference range 5–46IU/ML
Platelet Count (109/L)
Result:
Fibrosis 4 (FIB-4) Score 1.43
I am extremely worried with increasing AFP.
Please advise.
This result is today.
I recently got tested positive for Hep B. After that we did couple of followup tests. Here are the readings
HEP B SURFACE ANTIBODY - Indeterminate
HEP B SURFACE ANTIGEN - Positive
HEP B CORE AB,TOTAL IGG IG - Positive
HEP B CORE ANTIBODY,IGM - Negative
HEPATITIS B DNA LOG IU/ML 1.301
LOG10 HBV IU/ML 20
Please help me with the following
Do I have Chronic Hep B from the above results
Am I infectious to others currently
Are there other tests that can help to understand how long i have been having this
I have got appointment with a GI next week to do followup and discuss treatment options.
I have got appointment with a GI next week to do followup and discuss treatment options. Please help me understand this more.
Dear @Wadani1,
I think we have discussed your AFP results in the past and there doesn’t seem to be a clear upward trend, given your previous results (12 just before this test and 15 before that). Some studies have suggested a normal range is <20 ng/mL (Relationship of hepatitis B surface antigen to serum alpha-fetoprotein in nonmalignant diseases of the liver - PubMed and https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/81/12/3869.full.pdf). Given you are getting ultrasounds as well, I think you are doing the best in terms of monitoring for any liver cancer.
Dear @chirajkumar74,
Welcome to the forum and hope you find the support you need here.
These results are consistent with you having chronic Hep B (more than a few months). Your virus load is very low, so the risk of infection to others is also low, though theoretically possible. There aren’t really any other tests you can do to find out how long you’ve had the infection, it could even have been from birth.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Thanks for the response. I will be doing more tests next week after my GI appointment will share to get inputs from the group.
Is there any significance with Hep B Surface Antibody being Indeterminate. When the doctor called the lab said when they did the test 1 time it was positive and the next time it was negative, they repeated the tests multiple times and everytime the result was different.
Does this indicate anything?
Good afternoon, I really appreciate that this place exists.
I received some conflicting lab results and was genuinely surprised when I saw that I had tested positive for HBsAG.
At the moment I type this, I am very afraid. I don’t know what my results mean, and they seem to be inconclusive. My Dr. has ordered repeat tests in three weeks from now, but that’s a long time to sit and wonder, I’m hoping someone can shed some light, or have some experience with what my results mean.
The tests were ordered because I had elevated AST and ALT levels in December of 2020.
Dec 2020:
AST: 38 U/L
ALT: 98 U/L
Repeat labs in January 2021:
AST 42
ALT 115
As another precaution, my Dr. ordered additional testing a month later to include testing for HBV.
AST 37
ALT 104
HBsAG - Reactive “Critical High”
HBsAB - 335.97 “High”
HEPATITIS Bc Ab IgM - Non-Reactive
ALPHA FETO-PROTIEN - 1.02ng/mL
HCV AB - NONREACTIVE
A couple days later, I received a confirmatory report from a lab that utilized neutralization to rule out heterophilic antibodies as a false positive.
I’m just not sure what this could mean. My antibody count is high, do I somehow have a coexistence of HBsAG and HBsAB?
I have labs scheduled again in 3 weeks, but I haven’t been able to eat, sleep, or concentrate on anything else.
I’m very afraid…
Thank you for any positivity that can be shed.
I should add, I was vaccinated at age 10, and confirmed with my mother that there was no risk of exposure at birth.
Thanks again for your time.
Dear @ibrahim_barry,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your story. Your results indicate that you have a very low virus titre, which is linked with good health outcomes. It also means the likelihood of transmission is low.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
This could mean that the anti-HBs is low, which means that your body is starting to fight off the infection. But ongoing monitoring will help the doctor understand what’s going on.
Dear @anxious1,
Thanks for sharing your story and sorry that you are having such a rough time at the moment with lab test anxiety. I think we have all experienced it here.
Regarding why you might have co-existence of HBsAg and HBsAb and raised ALTs, it may be the start of an immune response against an infection event and your body is in the process of winning.
Of course, you should continue to monitor the situation with additional tests.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Thank you very much for the response.
The work you’re doing here is amazing.
Are there other viruses that would show HBsAG levels, or do you think I may have been exposed to HBV?
Is it a normal immune response to have HBsAG and HBsAB at the same time for a period of time, even in a vaccinated person?
What are the chances of a false positive HBsAG test?
Thank you so much for your guidance, and I apologize for all of the questions…
This help for the moral , also if I can stat medication ,my viral is 1450 ul/ ml
My regards
fredag 25 februari 2022 skrev Thomas Tu via Hep B Community <info@hepbcommunity.org>:
Thank you for your kind words, @anxious1.
To answer your questions:
This is not a “textbook” result and doesn’t match any of the classically defined phases, so it’s hard to say exactly what’s happening. The transition between the phases (e.g. when you’re mounting an immune response) are less well defined and it’s common that you may have results like this. That’s why I’d suggest that’s what you’re going through.
To my knowledge, HBsAg is not likely to be a false positive, but definitely worth testing again to make sure. As far as I know, no other viruses will generate this false positive. To confirm that you have been exposed to HBV, it might be worth getting a total anti-HBc Ab test.
It is good that you had a HBV vaccine when younger. But if you didn’t get your antibody titres checked, you don’t know if you were really protected or not. There are many people who do not respond to the vaccine (I’ve seen figures of 5-15%).
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Dear @ibrahim_barry,
Starting therapy is something that you would need to discuss with your doctor and not something anyone can advise you on over the internet. It depends on many things including: your fibroscan score, your age, your family history of liver cancer, other diseases you might have, etc.
Thomas
This does help, thank you very much.
You’ve given me hope that even if I am a vaccine non-responder, I still have a chance of recovery… At least, I assume I understood correctly?
Thank you again for your wisdom.
This is possible, but you definitely need to maintain monitoring of your condition with your health provider.
Thomas
Hello, my name is David, I am 40 years old and I write from Spain. Last week I was diagnosed positive for Hepatitis B. I don’t know since when I’ve been positive, in a month I have an appointment with a specialist doctor for my first assessment. Right now I’m scared, I have my first results that I would like to share.
ALT 37 U/L (1-50)
Thank you very much to all the people who share their experience and the experts who help to understand this disease, thank you.
