I was tested for STD's and all came back negative except for the test for Hepatitis B. That showed Hepatitis B Core IGM Antibodies (pos), B Surface Antigen (Neg).. Waiting on further tests. the Doctor has been helpful, but still kinda freakin' out. I've been married many years, and neither of us uses drugs or has had any extra-marital sexual encounters, nor do we fall in any of the other risk categories. If I read correctly, I am showing results from a fairly recent infection, but with the HBsAg showing negative, it is acute, and I am no longer contagious. My questions are:
1. How could I contract this w/o having done anything associated with the risk factors?
2. Am I indeed assessing this correctly that I am acutely infected and also non-contagious at this point?
3. It would appear that I am most likely past the point where symptoms occur...Is this correct? That was a juvenile reply:
"Those are questions for your doctor. (See question: Doctor HAS been asked)
You cant have hep. and not contracted it.
Its like having the flu and saying you didnt contract the flu virus, its silly. (Testing positive for antibodies and negative for antigens does not infer this, nor does the question. I obviously was exposed at some point.)
Especially if it is a recent infection it should make you wonder.
Hep. B is transferred the same way HIV is. Only you can decide how you got it. (Okay, if I can decide that, I got it from, oh, touching oak trees... The question is somewhat rhetorical: Approximately 1/3 of US cases do NOT know how they contracted the disease.)
As far as your other questions, call your doctors office.(See above)" Alright, so you are anti-HBc (IgM) positive and HBsAg negative. Any other tests? That strikes me as an odd screening. Going to go through all the testing stuff but long story short, you are correct in your interpretation: acute infection.
Here is the rundown on antigen/antibody presence and what it means (small image linked below diagrams acute infection, which might help鈥ouldn鈥檛 find anything better in a quick search):
-HBsAg indicates acute or chronic infection.
-anti-HBs indicates immunity from past infection or vaccination.
-anti-HBc (IgM) indicates acute infection 鈥?this titer usually drops significantly within 6 months.
-anti-HBc (IgG), in the absence of anti-HBc (IgM) indicates past infection.
-HBeAg indicates active infection and high infectivity.
-anti-HBe indicates low infectivity
-Important note: anti-HBs usually takes about six months to start showing up; anti-HBc and anti-HBe are faster.
Combining some of these helps:
-HBsAg + anti-HBc (IgM) indicates acute infection.
-HBsAg + anti-HBc (IgG) indicates chronic infection.
-anti-HBs + anti-HBc (IgG) indicates past infection
-anti-HBs alone is most likely vaccination, could be prior infection as well. Either way, anti-HBs = immune.
In chronic infection: HBsAg remains present indefinitely, anti-HBs never develops, and anti-HBc (IgG) is often present. HBeAg (indicative of high infectivity) may remain present for longer or indefinitely (chronic HBeAg usually indicates chronic active infection 鈥?most are symptomatic; lack of HBeAg in chronic infection indicates carrier state 鈥?usually asymptomatic).
So getting back to your case: anti-HBc (IgM) indicates acute infection. Lack of HBsAg probably means you were tested after a few months of infection (in cases that don鈥檛 go chronic, HBsAg declines after a month or two鈥nti-HBs usually doesn鈥檛 pick up until about the six month mark).
Question #2 answered above.
Question #1: are you involved in any way with the health-care field (including dental, etc)? Any contact with blood in the last six months (on the job, lady scraped her knee on the sidewalk outside your house, etc鈥?? No needles/injections/etc? No transfusions? Hep B is fairly contagious if blood hits blood (or via sexual contact with someone who is HBeAg positive)鈥ut that contact has to have occurred. It is true that more than half of cases are unable to pinpoint their exposure to the virus.
Question #3: I think it is a fairly safe bet that your negative HBsAg indicates you are probably out of the woods. The majority of adults with acute infection clear it with time, no to minimal lasting damage, and come out immune on the other side. I imagine your doctor ordered the full panel to follow-up; HBeAg is going to be the big one (would indicate a very active infection). HBeAg usually falls before HBsAg in individuals who are only going to experience acute infection, which is why I say you are most likely out of the woods. In addition, HBsAg usually doesn鈥檛 fall in infections that are going to be chronic. So, again, I鈥檇 say these are good results (clearly not as good as negatives across the board, but yeah). Hope it works out鈥鈥檒l check this questions every now and then. Edit your question if anything is unclear, as I鈥檓 sure it is鈥his testing is pretty complicated. The graphs usually help, and I鈥檓 sure there is a better one out there than I have linked below. Those are questions for your doctor.
You cant have hep. and not contracted it.
Its like having the flu and saying you didnt contract the flu virus, its silly.
Especially if it is a recent infection it should make you wonder.
Hep. B is transferred the same way HIV is. Only you can decide how you got it.
As far as your other questions, call your doctors office.
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/46/... "Yes" did a terrific job explaining how Hepatitis B works and answered your questions better than most physicians could. The burning question is how you contracted the disease. I worked in the laboratory industry for many, many years. One thing I discovered was sometimes people are not quite as careful as they should be when performing invasive procedures on patients. This includes both medical and dental fields.
Example, a few years back a phlebotomist for Smith Cline Laboratories was found to have used the same needle (without sterilizing it) to draw blood from many different patients. The needles are to be used once per patient, and then disposed of in a biohazard container. She would just pull out the same Vacutainer needle and use it again and again. The final estimate was she had used this "technique" on over 20,000 people. Several people ended up with infections like Hep B because of the stick with a contaminated needle.
Poor sterilization techniques in the dental field have also been found to cause a spread of highly contagious diseases like Hep B. While the ratio is 1/3 people never know how they contracted the disease, these examples show you were probably an innocent victim of either a lazy, vindictive, or inept employee.
In the past year, have you had any interaction with a phlebotomist for blood tests, cosmetic procedure (botox injection), manicure/pedicure, tatoo, or gone in for any kind of dental procedure. If so, the chances are good that you contracted the disease during that particular encounter. Hep B can be spread in many different ways. Sorry you are going through this. Good luck to you. |
