Very confused about this lab result. Can someone decipher this please.
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Just means you haven’t been exposed and aren’t vaccinated. Go get a Heb B vaccine and you’ll be protected.
Thanks for your reply, Scott.
Oh that it were that simple. I’ve been CHB for more than 56 years and have cirrhosis. That’s why that lab result is so confusing. It shows that I had <2.0 HBsAb 24 years ago but now I have a low viral load and HBsAg reactive and no HBsAb at all. It’s all a bit of a shock and very stressful since I only found out that I had cirrhosis and steatosis in December. My wife has one more Hep B vaccine to go.; hopefully, it will protect her.
Hi @karp,
If you are still HBsAg positive, then it is expected that your anti-HBs antibody levels are low.
Thomas
Ah. Thank you, Thomas.
That old lab report made no mention of HBsAg, but my recent labs show HBsAg positive. It’s discouraging to see that the small HBsAb that showed up, has now seemingly disappeared. Does this make it less likely for me to produce HBsAb again?
This is all so complicated and stressful. Back in 2000, I was never told how serious this would be. Nor was I retested. Until last December, I was never evaluated for fibrosis/cirrhosis. Does the persistence of HBsAg mean my cirrhosis will inevitably get worse? Thank you again for your kind dedication to all of us.
Hi @Karp,
I’m sorry to hear that you had not been evaluated for liver fibrosis until recently; this should be a routine test for everyone with Hep B.
As far as I know, blips in anti-HBs happen from time to time and do not have any bearing on whether you are likely to produce it again in the future. The more important value is your quantitative HBsAg level: the lower this is, the more likely you are to get anti-HBs in the future.
Persistence of HBsAg does not mean that your cirrhosis will inevitably get worse. It has been shown that antiviral therapy slows and even allows reversal of fibrosis and early cirrhosis.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Thanks, again Thomas. Today, I asked the hepatologist to order a quantitative HBsAg and the reply I got was that “The HBV DNA titre (which is on the requisition) will show the amount of the virus, if that is what you’re looking for.” Before I pursue this with her, am I getting confused again – I thought HBsAg was different from viral load? My HBV DNA is 6.55E+1 IU/ml.
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Hi @Karp,
Yes, HBsAg level is different from viral load.
Generally speaking, HBV DNA is a measure of how much infectious virus is in the blood.
HBsAg is more of a measure of how likely it is your body is to clearing the infection, the lower this is, the more likely you are to clear it.
Thomas
Thanks Thomas. I’ll see if I can persuade the doctor to order a quantitative HBsAg.