Increase viral load after 5 years of 10>DNA

What do my lab results mean?
1

Hello,
I am a 39-year-old male and have been diagnosed as an inactive carrier since the age of 34. Apparently, the infection occurred in infancy.
Since the discovery of the carrier status, I have been doing periodic blood tests every 6 months.
The vast majority of DNA tests are lower than 10.
My liver function is normal.
The last tests were conducted about 4 months ago and everything was normal there too with a viral load lower than 10.
On the other hand, in a test I conducted about a week ago, my liver function was found to be normal along with a viral load of 924 ul.

The only thing that has changed in these 4 months, since the test that showed a value lower than 10, is that I started drinking alcohol once or twice a week, each time about 200-250 mg of vodka until drunk.
In addition, as part of my fitness training, I drank 2.5 mg of creatine every day and protein powder with 27 grams of protein.

The doctor recommended a repeat test in about a month to check the direction of the viral load.

A Fibroscan test from 4 months ago was normal with no scarring in the liver.

Can we assume that the increase in viral load is a result of drinking alcohol?
I am looking for the reason for the change in viral load.

Below are the last results -

|1.2025|9.2024||

|924| 10> HBV DNA PCR|
|26| 31| GPT (ALT)|
|29| 32| GOT (AST)|
|-| 14| GGT|
|64| 70| ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE|

9.2024 12.2018
negative HBc IgM
negative negative HBe Ag
positive positive HBe Ab
2

I would think it is possible that drinking may have increased your viral. HBVers have long been advised not to drink alcohol. I know strenuous exercise may increase your ALT.

3

Hi @Daniel,

There are some studies on this topic, showing that HBV DNA does increase in experimental models of HBV (e.g., Hepatology). However, it isn’t clear what the mechanism actually is and whether there might be other causes of the increased HBV DNA level that you observed.

Cheers,
Thomas

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5

Hi @Daniel, I wish my latest lab report had your number of the hbv load! :grinning:

I tend to agree with @Stephenw, the drinking might be the reason. I have similar carrier status / history like yours actually, and I just had a huge increase (from 260 to 2990) in my lab exam last week, without a clue on the cause. But I plan to try for a few more months to bring it down, I think you have a far better chance to achieve that!

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