Hi @Lilgacon
While going through seroconversion, the HBsAg levels can be very low and close to the limit of detection of the blood test. During the process, you may get fluctuations between positive and negative.
What it basically means is that your system is in a dynamic situation and nothing is certain yet, but it is a good sign that it was negative and hopefully it will go back to negative in your upcoming tests.
Thomas
I got recently diagnosed Chronic Hep B. Saw an expert he ordered for additional blood work can anyone help understand and interrupt these results.
HEPATITIS B SURFACE ANTIGEN - Reactive
HEPATITIS B CORE AB TOTAL - Reactive
HEPATITIS BE ANTIBODY - Reactive
HEPATITIS B SURFACE AB IMMUNITY, QN - <5 L
HEPATITIS B VIRUS DNA - 72 H
HEPATITIS B VIRUS DNA - 1.86 H
HEPATITIS BE ANTIGEN - Non Reactive
Dear chirajkumar74
Welcome to the Hepb community. I may avoid responding to your concerns at this point but I am sure they will be adequately addressed.
Meanwhile,there are a lot of treds in this forum and I would encourage you to look around and see if many of your other concerns can be addressed.
Kinoti
Hi EH1999
Thank you for sharing your story.
I am a specialist in the field of Hepatitis B research and have lived in Korea for 5 years. I have personal experience with the difficulties of finding the right medical care not speaking the language but always have found great doctors in the end.
I contacted my collaboration partner at The Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Marys Hospital. The hepatology department is one of the best in Korea.
Dr. Pil Soo Sung is a hepatologist and assistant professor at Seoul St. Marys Hospital. He speaks English well and he would be happy to help you. Please feel free to contact him via email at
pssung@catholic.ac.kr
I already let him know that you might contact him.
Here is some more information about Dr. Sung https://www.cmcseoul.or.kr/page/en/doctor/83/D0000297
Please let me know if you have questions.
Hope this helps,
Alex
Hello everyone, I started on Viread 1 month ago. I just got my blood test yesterday, my AST/ALT level has elevated a lot higher than last test ( like double ) and I’m just really worried. I’m waiting on my doctor response.
Oh my goodness Alex, thank you so much for sharing this information with me. I can’t lie, I cried when I read your message, it means so much to me so thank you. I’ll drop him an email. 
Hi akoening934
Thank you for being a big brother who comes at the right time. I am sure with the link you have given, our friend will get the help he dearly requires.
Further, i encourage you to remain with us in the Hepb community since you are a great asset to all of us here.
Kinoti.
Thanks @akoenig934 for that wonderful support and I’m really happy to see that @EH1999 found it so useful!
Dear @chirajkumar74, thanks for sharing your story and welcome to the forum.
These results are typical of a inactive HBV infection, which means your viral load is very low (so there is lower risk of transmission) and generally there is not much inflammation (though this has to be confirmed by a blood test for ALTs). If you are in this phase, then the prognosis is generally good (lower risk of liver fibrosis and cancer).
Hi @olive, thanks for sharing your story. I’m sorry to hear about your worries. Antivirals can take some time to start working, so it’s important to keep monitoring and seeing how this pans out. Please feel free to keep us updated on your status and the community will help support you through this 
.
Cheers,
Thomas
My hepatic functional panel is all normal. Waiting for Ultra sound and Elastography results. So with this do i just keep monitoring or do anything else?
Hi @chirajkumar74 thanks for asking a good question. For most people living with chronic hep b (including myself), we see a physician at least everyone 6 months for a physical exam (with special attention to our livers) and orders for blood tests and imaging studies (US and elastography, etc.). For those who are NOT on an antiviral medication, some doctors are comfortable seeing patients once a year. But ideally, twice a year is good because it’s important to catch any problems early rather than later! It can be real drag going twice a year, but avoiding liver problems is the reward! Always, Joan
Hi Joan
Thanks for clarifying, do we need to do elastography also every 6 months if liver functions and viral load etc or normal? I am still waiting for the doctor to say anything since all these results were sent to him a week back.
Thanks
Hi @chirajkumar74, I am not sure about the protocol for elastography. But I know in the US, most hep b patients have an ultrasound every 6 months. Again, this could vary if a person is not on an antiviral medication and their blood tests (liver enzymes, viral load, etc) look stable. The best advice is to wait to hear from your doctor and ask them any questions about how they’re going to manage and monitor your hep b. It’s perfectly fine to ask questions!!! Always, Joan
Dear @chirajkumar74,
I agree with Joan and wanted to add a few things. As far as I can tell, the official guidelines are a little fuzzy on how often elastography should be done. The EASL guidelines don’t seem to define it.
I believe the Australian guidelines suggest every 2 years for patients in these phases (HBeAg-neg, low viral load, no current liver disease).
But definitely recommended to keep monitoring by blood tests.
Cheers,
Thomas
Dear Experts,
I need your help to understand my spouse result. I am under TAF over a year now. I am HbeAg+ with undetectable load. Today we have received my wife lab result. Please help me to understand the result
By looking at the result. It seems she has been exposed to hep B. am I correct. But still didn’t developed the immunity. is that correct.
What should be our next step. Do we need to vaccinate her. Or we should wait to develop anti bodies naturally. Or need more testing ?
please advise
Dear @HopeForCure,
It appears that these results could be consistent with not ever being exposed or vaccinated. The results for all the markers are either negative or borderline. It would probably be worthwhile to get vaccinated to induce HBs antibodies.
TT
thank you for input. we will get her vaccinated.
I have hep B and D. I am currently on peg IFN and TAF. I did 3 Fibro Scan from 3 different laboratories, One lab said 12.9 in Dec 2021 then second lab in Feb 2022 said 9.1 then third lab in March 2022 said 8.
I did two viral loads from 2 different laboratories, one lab came as 13,000 in Dec 2021 and other came as 288,000 in Feb 2022. Third did not have the facility to calculate viral load for Hepatitis D.
I started the pegINF in March 2022. Since started then have not checked Viral load. But with the Grace of God my ALT is dropping from 160 to 110 then to 64.
Dear Suresh,
Its good that your ALT is dropping. However, we do know that in clinical studies of people receiving TDF/TAF in combination with pegIFN in people with HBV/HDV co-infection that ALT flares can occur during therapy so this may happen in the future. It is IMPORTANT to note that your doctor should also be testing for other markers of liver function (these are called bilirubin, albumin and INR) and in the cases of these ALT flares, the liver function was actually normal, indicating that the ALT flare was a sign of the immune system clearing infected cells from the liver (which is a good thing).
Regarding your HBV RNA and fibroscan data, can you confirm the following:
Best regards,
Thanks for detailed reply. My doctor is checking weekly:
ALT, AST, GGT,
bilirubin, albumin, etc.
I had flare of GGT since I started pegINF. The bilirubin and albumin are stable. ALT and AST were very high before starting pegINF and it started to drop.
For HDV RNA viral load, the unit of 13,000 was iu/ml but there was no unit mentioned for 288,000.
I don’t have the result of HBsAg but i will try to ask.
Thanks.
Regards,
