Hi @Tehminbrown,
At the moment, we have no strong evidence to show that HBV surface antigen has much effect at all on other organs and we have been looking for several decades.
Cheers,
Thomas
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Thank you Thomas, God Bless you guys 
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Hello everyone, I have been going through a difficult situation recently and am glad to have found this safe place… about 3 months ago I went in to the dermatologist for a skin tag removal on my nose, long story short after the procedure I realized the tools used on me where NOT clean… I rushed to the Emergency room where I was given Post Exposure Prophylaxis (Tivikay &Truvada) when the ER doctor was giving me the medication he made it very clear that these meds should not be taken if you have had or have hepatitis B because it can cause a recurrence or flare up of the virus. I took the medication for 28 days after which my birth mother reached out to me and after speaking to her mentioned that as a child I had hepatitis, I was born in Mexico (NO med records) and my mother was not very involved (at 3 I lost contact with her) and now she is not responding to my plea to talk to me to get more information (what hepatitis A-B-C? what did the doctor say about my condition, was I treated by a medical professional?) I suspect she is making me wait because when she finally calls she will want something in return for the info and it’s accuracy will be questionable. I am terrified and living in a state of constant stress thinking I caused the virus to comeback and it could happen any day, next week, next year, by taking these meds!!! I left my family for a week to stay in a hotel because mentally I am not ok and i couldn’t stand the idea of passing something to them. My doctor is no help and does’t seem to be interested in dealing with me, but I am a real mess, I can’t eat, sleep and am living in fear not for myself but my babies. I don’t know what to do or what I went through as a baby. I finally got them to give me an appointment to draw blood and now the doctor is not answering my calls. My results are as follows if anyone can please tell me if my fear is confirmed, can we tell by these results if I’ve ever had Hep B and is there any chance I could end up reactivating an old Hep B infection by having taken those Meds, I thank you all endlessly because just by being here you have given a mom that feels very small and unheard a place to feel heard and not so insignificant.
|HEPATITIS A IGM NON-REACTIVE
|HEPATITIS B SURFACE ANTIGEN NON-REACTIVE
|HEPATITIS B CORE ANTIBODY (IGM) NON-REACTIVE
|HEPATITIS C ANTIBODY NON-REACTIVE
|SIGNAL TO CUT-OFF | YOUR VALUE 0.01| Standard Range <1.00|
Thank you Again
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Dear @C.Maapa,
Welcome to the community and thank you for sharing your story. I understand you might be under quite a bit of stress, and I’m sorry about that. The good news is that the lab results you post show that you have not been exposed to Hepatitis B before and do not have an active or past infection.
It would be best to get a “Hepatitis B surface antibody” test to see if you need to have a vaccine for future protection, but you are not at risk of any reactivation given these results.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Thank you so much Thomas… I am incredibly grateful to you I have an appt next week for more bloodwork due to the possible exposure I went through but I thank you immensely… and yes I’m a ball of stress… hug and appreciate all the incredible moms in your life not all of us grew up knowing what that feels like… so much hope and well wishes to everyone and anyone in this community.
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Dear @C.Maapa, I agree that it’s wonderful that you found the forum! Please remember to schedule the hep b vaccine (3 shots over a 6 month period) IF you test NEGATIVE for the hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs or HBsAb) because that means you are unprotected against hep b. If you test POSITIVE for the hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs or HBsAb), then you do not need the vaccine because you have natural protection.
Please be sure to keep us posted. And remember, tell everyone you know to get the hep b vaccine so no one else has to suffer like you did!!! Always, Joan
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Thank You Joan, I will definitely be doing that! I am currently trying to piece what happened to me as a baby since I have no Medical records and I lived in the homes or 3 different extended family members by the time I was 4. You mentioned that If I test positive for the hep B surface antibody I have Natural protection. If I do test positive would it mean at some point I was vaccinated? Because of the negative core antibody it can’t be protection gained from my body clearing the virus as a young child, am I correct? .
Please I need better understanding of this results
HBsAg - Reactive
HBsAb - Non Reactive
HBeAg - Non Reactive
HBeAb - Reactive
HBcAb - Reactive
And also want to know the effect in semen
Dear @DMs,
Welcome to the forums and thanks for your question.
Your lab results indicate that you have chronic Hep B and that your virus levels are probably low (because you are in a HBeAg-negative phase). It would be good to get a hep B DNA test to confirm this and ultrasound/fibroscan to see the condition of your liver and to know if you need medication.
I’m not sure what you specifically want to know about semen: Hep B shouldn’t have a direct effect on its composition or fertility, but the Hep B virus can be carried and spread through semen.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Thank you for your help.
So, I want to know if Hepatitis B can effect sperm count or sperm motility in order to fertilize a woman’s egg.
I want to know if Hepatitis B can effect sperm count or sperm motility in order to fertilize a woman’s egg.
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Hi @C.Maapa, just to clarify, if you test positive for the hep b surface antibody (HBsAb of anti-HBs), then you have protective antibodies against the hep b virus. Thomas can probably better explain the IgM antibody to hep b core antigen (IgM anti-HBc) versus standard hep b core antibody (anti-HBc) test results. But just so you know, the IgM anti-body tests for how recently a person was infected (<6 months). Since you’re negative or “non-reactive” it would appear that you were not “acutely infected.” The standard hep b core antibody test results is not included in your first email. Can you ask your doctor or their office to email or snail mail ALL of the hep b test results? If the standard anti-HBc test result is positive, then you were most likely exposed to the hep b virus at some point. And if your hep b surface antibody (HBsAb or anti-HBs) is positive as well, then your body was able to get rid of the virus and you would be considered “naturally” immunized as opposed to having been vaccinated.
Again, Thomas can probably explain this clearly in one sentence! A good resource is the Hepatitis B Foundation’s “Understanding Your Test Results”, which includes a very nice table so you can see the interpretation of the different blood test results. Hope I haven’t totally confused you!!! Keep us posted … Always, Joan
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Let me see that I am understanding correctly… there are 2 types of Anti-Hbc tests? Anti-Hbc standard and Anti-Hbc IGM ? The standard will tell us of exposure and Anti-Hbc IGM will tell us of exposure <6 months? @ThomasTu
@Joan_Block
Oh and what are there any chances of an Anti-Hbc test coming out non reactive even when you in fact have had the virus?
Dear @C.Maapa,
You are correct, there are 2 tests. Anti-HBc IgM only hangs around for 6 months after an infection, Anti-HBc total Ig (which is mostly IgG) remains for years/decades after the initial infection.
If you have had exposure after you have been vaccinated, you will probably not see anti-HBc markers in the blood. Otherwise, it is usually not the case that you can clear it without having anti-HBc (though it could be that this has waned over time).
In response to your earlier question, if you test positive for the hep B surface antibody over 20mIU/mL, you are protected (in your case by vaccination).
Hope this helps,
Thomas
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Hi @DMs,
From the information that I’ve read, sperm count doesn’t seem to be affected. There is slightly lower sperm motility in people with hep B (though still within normal range) but I don’t know if there is a known explanation for this.
There doesn’t seem to be much information about how this directly affects fertility rates in the healthy adult population, but likely not much. Indeed, there are people with Hep B that have successfully had children (even on this forum).
Thomas
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@ThomasTu
have not had the IGg test only the IGM… does that open the door to reactivation if I am positive for IGg after taking the Tenofovir…
Also I now have reason to believe I was vaccinated while with one of my aunts probably around the age of 6 so these set of tests will be especially important in peicing the mystery together… I don’t know if you remmember my story… thanks again!
Given you are HBsAg-negative, I would think it’s a pretty low probability that you’d see any reactivation.
I think the worry about reactivation is if you have a current Hep B infection, which is then suppressed by Tenofovir. After your Post-Exposure Prevention course is done, you stop the tenofovir. In these instances what can happen is that the Hep B comes back all of a sudden and your body sees that as a threat.
In your case, you don’t seem to have an active infection, so (given what I know) there is no need to worry about any reactivation. @MarkDouglas might have a bit more to say about this as an infectious diseases doctor.
Cheers,
Thomas
Diagnosed with hep B in jan, when I went for blood donation to my friends family.
In February, 2021 I went for few tests results are
I am very much tensed and want to know how to plan my future treatment. Please guide me.
Thanks
Ankap
Hi @Ankap,
Welcome to the community and thank you for your question. Your results do show that you have a Hep B infection, but your liver is not actively being damaged right now.
The follow up tests should include: HBV DNA (this will show if you need treatment or not) and ultrasound/fibroscan (this will show if your liver has been damaged in the past and still is injured).
It would be good to visit a liver specialist to provide ongoing monitoring to make sure that it doesn’t get worse over time.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
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Thank you Thomas, I feel good after joining this forum.
Now I am sure I can fight this virus, will update forum about my next test reports in few days.
1 question I have in my mind,
What is
anti-HBe - reactive
And HBeAG - 0.04 (not detected)
Thanks