Need your advice regarding clinics for deep diagnosis and treatment

Just diagnosed or new to the community
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Hi Thomas and all,

Really glad to find such community. I’ve read many posts and found them very helpful, motivating to go ahead despite the stress and sadness.

I found myself HepB positive just recently, let’s say few weeks ago. Due to nature my of job I’m obliged to undergo the Medical Check Up every 2 years. So the last Check Up revealed the HepB.

HBsAg positive
Anti-HBs neg.
Anti-HBc (IgG+IgM) positive
Anti-HBc IgM neg
HBeAg neg
Anti-HBe positive

Additional Ultrasound diagnosis was showing no signs of liver disease.
The Doctor concluded that I have “chronic HBV infection without HBS seroconverstion” and recommended to perform later the PCR of HBV DNA, fibroscan and start treatment based on results.

Since I’m a Seaman and had to join my vessel in few days after check up, I had no chance to continue the diagnosis.
Also the Clinic, where Medical Examination was performed, is without necessary professionals and lab for further deep diagnosis.
So, now I’m in need of some Clinic to perform further diagnosis and receive professional recommendations regarding treatment.

I would never bother community with this question if I was in my home country, but unfortunately due to ongoing insane war conflict I can’t return home. At home it could be more easy to find the specialist.
I had no much experience with Medical Institutions abroad since I was rarely required medical help in the past. But now I’m lost …

Some of my colleagues recommended Germany. I made a list of some German clinics with Gastroenterology/Hepatology departments and sent inquiries. But so far no response.

I have insurance provided by my employer which, I hope, should cover the costs.

Another difficulty is that I’m working on rotation, and I stick to it, having only few weeks for visit the Doctor. I should follow the rotation cycle otherwise I can loose the job and subsequently the insurance.
I afraid that it is long waiting for appointment for many good Clinics which I trying to communicate in Germany.

I’m kindly ask to recommend some reliable Clinics / specialists if possible.
With my passport I can freely travel around the European Union and some eastern Europe countries.
Apart from my native language I can speak also on English and Russian.

If your recommendation can be considered as adver on public forum (I’m not sure about it) please message me in private.

2

Welcome @Andrey , thank you for sharing your story. I’m glad you found this community.
Although I can’t help you with your enquire. Speaking English should be helpful.
I’m wondering if Seafarers can help you. We have them at ports in Australia. But I think they only help with supplies.
Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. Someone will be in contact shortly, hopefully with a better solution.

1 Like
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Dear Andrey,

Thank you for sharing your story and sorry to hear about your predicament. It sounds very stressful.

It is hard to say that this is a chronic infection, generally this would require a confirmatory test 6 months later to verify a chronic infection. The other point is that not everyone with Hepatitis B requires treatment. Here it would be useful to get a HBV DNA test (PCR test) to see how much virus is in your blood and whether it justifies treatment. In some countries (I’m not sure exactly which European ones would do this), this can be ordered by a general practitioner.

Hope this helps,
Thomas

4

Thank you, Thomas
So the first is to do the HBV DNA test (PCR test) … I got it.