Born with Help B & I think I beat it? Rare event?

[ThomasTu]

Hi @et5656,

Interesting question. I have never heard of this happening and I wouldn’t know what the mechanism would be to induce this reactivation from a vaccination. I think it’s an exceedingly unlikely event.

@et5656

but the vaccine does contain HBsAg, which is why it can cause people to temporarily test positive, even if they’ve never had HBV before.

Yes, this is correct.

@et5656

So is it possible that the body could start using HBsAg from the vaccine to create infectious virus again?

No, this probably doesn’t happen. It isn’t that the HBsAg is missing from the HBV in the liver in someone who is HBsAg-negative. It is generally the case that the number of infected cells is very very low in the liver and any HBsAg that is being produced by that small number of cells is neutralised by antibodies.

Thomas

[et5656]

Ah okay. So people who have cleared HBsAg still do have a small amount of antibodies, even if it’s not enough to register as POSITIVE on the surface antibody test? So then maybe the adjuvants in the vaccine can increase antibodies more than the ongoing exposure to low levels of HBsAg?

[ThomasTu]

People who have “cleared” HBsAg still produce a small amount of HBsAg, yes.