Hepatitis disease - Anti-HBc +, other HBV tests -

Author

Anti-HBc +, other HBV tests -

Rich Wales

2006-02-25, 8:44 pm

I've tested "reactive" to the hepatitis B core antibody (twice --
once by a blood bank in 2001, confirmed by a second test by my
doctor in 2003).

However, all other hepatitis B tests performed so far have been
negative. In particular, the following tests have all yielded
negative results:

HB core IgM
HB surface antigen
HB surface antibody
HB "e" antibody
HB viral DNA

Additionally, a test for the hepatitis C antibody was negative.

Likely (or possible) interpretations of the above set of results?
In particular, how reasonable is it to suppose that I may in fact
have been exposed to HBV? Or is the anti-HBc result likely to be
a false positive? (In case it matters, I am not aware of being
in any of the high-risk categories for getting hepatitis B, so
I'm at a complete loss to understand how I could possibly have
been exposed to HBV at any time in my life.)

AFAIK, I've never been vaccinated against hepatitis B. Would
there be any reason why I shouldn't get vaccinated now, just to
be on the safe side?

If I do get vaccinated, I understand the vaccination will make me
reactive to anti-HBs. As a result, I would appear indistinguishable
from someone who had had hepatitis B (and completely recovered, and
now naturally immune). Is this any cause for concern?

Does being reactive to anti-HBc, without any other indication of
present or past infection, preclude my being an organ or tissue
donor? Would this change if I were to be vaccinated now (which
would make me reactive to anti-HBs on top of the existing anti-HBc
result)?

Rich Wales richw@richw.org http://www.richw.org
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. My comments are for discussion pur-
poses only and are not intended to be relied upon as medical advice.

Alan

2006-02-25, 8:44 pm

In article <20060205020149.B64050.richw@whodunit.richw.org>, richw@richw.org
(Rich Wales) wrote:

> I've tested "reactive" to the hepatitis B core antibody (twice --
> once by a blood bank in 2001, confirmed by a second test by my
> doctor in 2003).
>
> However, all other hepatitis B tests performed so far have been
> negative. In particular, the following tests have all yielded
> negative results:
>
> HB core IgM
> HB surface antigen
> HB surface antibody
> HB "e" antibody
> HB viral DNA
>
> Additionally, a test for the hepatitis C antibody was negative.
>
> Likely (or possible) interpretations of the above set of results?
> In particular, how reasonable is it to suppose that I may in fact
> have been exposed to HBV? Or is the anti-HBc result likely to be
> a false positive? (In case it matters, I am not aware of being
> in any of the high-risk categories for getting hepatitis B, so
> I'm at a complete loss to understand how I could possibly have
> been exposed to HBV at any time in my life.)
>
> AFAIK, I've never been vaccinated against hepatitis B. Would
> there be any reason why I shouldn't get vaccinated now, just to
> be on the safe side?
>
> If I do get vaccinated, I understand the vaccination will make me
> reactive to anti-HBs. As a result, I would appear indistinguishable
> from someone who had had hepatitis B (and completely recovered, and
> now naturally immune). Is this any cause for concern?
>
> Does being reactive to anti-HBc, without any other indication of
> present or past infection, preclude my being an organ or tissue
> donor? Would this change if I were to be vaccinated now (which
> would make me reactive to anti-HBs on top of the existing anti-HBc
> result)?
>
> Rich Wales richw@richw.org http://www.richw.org
> *DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. My comments are for discussion pur-
> poses only and are not intended to be relied upon as medical advice.

Welcome to the newsgroup, and please excuse me using it currently as a
newsletter. It seemed the only way to get the numbers count up.

It is pointless getting vaccinated against something you have already had. You
already have the antibodies in your blood stream. Getting vaccinated now is like
shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, and is a complete waste of
money. There used to be a guy called Karl here, who knew all about hepatitis B,
and it is well worth googling for his posts on the topic. He was a virologist or
something like that.

Alan

http://unitedeuropeanworkersunion.blogspot.com/

http://theoriginalfirebird.blogspot.com/

http://lordcerneabbastoo.blogspot.com/

http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/

http://veloceraptor.blogspot.com/

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

Rich Wales

2006-02-25, 8:44 pm

"Alan" wrote:

> It is pointless getting vaccinated against something
> you have already had. You already have the antibodies
> in your blood stream.

Please note that I said I have tested reactive to anti-HBc =only=.
It was my understanding (am I mistaken?) that immunity exists only
when one is reactive to anti-HBs.

I've read / been told that the most likely explanation for anti-HBc
reactivity, with no other positive lab tests, over an extended
period of time, would be one of the following:

(1) "distantly" immune, but with an extremely low serum anti-HBs
level that couldn't be detected (does "distant" immunity mean
the immunity might have worn off and I could be susceptible
to infection again?); or

(2) never been infected, and never been immunized either, and the
two anti-HBc test results were both false positives.

Note that I had two positive anti-HBc tests, two years apart, and
the other (negative) tests were done at various times over a five-
year period. I think this would rule out the possibility of my
having been in the midst of recovering from acute HBV infection.
Also, I've been tested as negative for HBV DNA, which presumably
rules out a chronic infection with an undetectable HGsAg level.

That's why I (and my doctor) have assumed that I =might= still be
susceptible to HBV infection, and thus why vaccination might make
sense just in case. I'm wondering, though, if there might be any
additional tests that I ought to have done first, before vaccination
might complicate matters and make further testing impractical.

Rich Wales richw@richw.org http://www.richw.org
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. My comments are for discussion pur-
poses only and are not intended to be relied upon as medical advice.