I’m a 31-year-old male from Pakistan, recently diagnosed with acute Hepatitis B 2 weeks ago. I had symptoms like fatigue, bloating, pale stools, and yellow urine. My energy and appetite is slowly returning.
Key Tests:
• HBsAg: Positive
• Anti-HBc IgM: Positive
• HBeAg: Negative
• ALT: 1149 U/L (recent last week initial was 4002)
• AST: 439 U/L (recent last week initial was 1723)
• Total Bilirubin: 1.6 mg/dL (recent last week initial was 1.7)
Currently resting, eating clean, and trying to quit smoking. Can you please look at my last 3 LFT’s report i am very concerned to see those high values and my doctor has told me that there are only few chances that Hepatitis B resolves as its own in 6 months. Is it true? I am very worried as I also have a wedding planned in Dec 2025. Please advise.
Thanks for sharing your story and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.
Hopefully you will clear the virus and not be chronic. But even if you do there are many on this forum who go on to live a normal life, working, having children, enjoying life. Including me. I’m 65 years old, was married and had 3 children. I got HBV when I was 20years old.
I’m not a healthcare professional but one of our team will be able to help you more. Soon @Bansah1@ThomasTu
Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement t truly means a lot to me. Hearing your story gives me so much hope and perspective. That really helps me stay grounded and optimistic as I navigate my own journey.
If you don’t mind me asking, what precautions do you take in your daily life now, and how did you handle things when you were first diagnosed and going through the acute stage? Looking back, is there anything you feel you could’ve done differently at that time that might have helped or made a difference?
Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience it truly makes a difference.
@Shahrukh unfortunately I didn’t know I was in acute stage. Back in those days not much was known about HBV . I actually thought it would go away because it was a virus-like a cold virus.
So I didn’t take it seriously.
And the doctor didn’t give me any information except I had HBV.
Others will comment soon.
Eat healthy, exercise, no alcohol or fatty food. Stress isn’t helpful either.
It’s a good reason to get healthy
I’m glad you found us, it’s a interesting informative group with science to back us up. There’s lots of scary info out on google. Beware @HealthExperts@ScienceExperts
Hi @Shahrukh,
I join my colleague @Caraline in welcoming you to the community. @Caraline, thanks for sharing your experience and story. It is educational and encouraging. Yes, it is highly possible for an adult who has just contracted the virus to clear it in 6 months; some patients have cleared beyond this mark (about a 90% chance). LFTs can get abnormal when your immune system is trying to gain control of the infection, but they will go back to the normal range after some time. Please be patient, rest, and give your body the time to recover and heal.
You mentioned marriage, if you got infected from your partner or someone else, please advise them to see a provider so they can get treated and prevent any further transmission. You must alert them as they may not be aware of their status and could continue infecting others.
I hope this helps. Bansah1
Thank you for sharing that it really helps to hear firsthand experiences. I can imagine how different things were back then with limited information. I’ll definitely take your advice to heart focusing on a healthy lifestyle and staying away from the Google. Grateful to have found this group and people like you.
Thank you so much, @Bansah1, for the warm welcome and helpful information. It’s reassuring to know there’s a high chance of clearing the virus, even if it takes a bit longer. I’ll definitely stay patient and give my body the time it needs, I have also stopped smoking completely and eating healthy. My partner had a recent HBV test which came in negative so I did not get it from her and she just had the first shot of the vaccine. I am only worried at the moment is that I don’t know why but my doctor told me that you will be on radar for lifetime. You need to be tested after every 6 months and there are less chances it clears at its on in 6 months. This statement contradicts with what I’ve read in this community and on Google. Anyhow, thanks again for the welcome I hope to learn a lot more from you guys.
If this is an acute infection, then the 90% chance comes to play. But if the doctor thinks it is a chronic infection then chance of clearance even on medication decreases to about 1-5%. That is why most HBV patients on treatment stay on it for life.
Your doctor is right about getting blood work and imaging done but for acute patients it’s less than 6 months. I guess it’s a monthly until there’s enough evidence that the person has cleared the virus then those tests and imaging can be done yearly just to monitor the patient.
Right now, I will suggest you focus on getting your body back to good health and let’s talk more about this after 6 months. The last thing you need right now is stress. Keep resting, eat a lot of fruits if you have no appetite for regular food, and stay hydrated. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a great outcome in the end. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Glad to hear your partner is tested and getting vacinated. Bansah1
I did my 6-months checkup last week. It was my first time in a general practicioner instead of my doctor that monitors me back in my home town. I have a small problem interpeting the results.
The viral load of HBV is 0.2 but the unit of measurement is unspecified in the paper I got. It only says in the description: Negative, Copies * 1000/mL.
In other page there is another result marked as HBV virus DNA with the value 33.8 kIU/L. Are both values a measurement of viral load in different scales? Could you please tell me how this value translates to the standard IU/mL scale usually used?
To be honest I asked chatGPT and it said the following:
Your result: 0.2, with the description “Copies × 1000/mL.”
This means your viral load is 0.2 × 1000 copies/mL, which equals 200 copies/mL.
Conversion to IU/mL:
For HBV, the approximate conversion factor is 1 IU ≈ 5.6 copies (this can vary slightly by assay, but 5–6 copies/IU is commonly used).
Conclusion: Your HBV viral load is approximately 36 IU/mL.
Is this number correct?
By the way, the rest of the tests seem fine. I will book an appointment with a specialised doctor but that might take a while so I wanted to ask you about the interpretation of these numbers because the doctor, not knowing what these numbers are, stressed me a lot.
I’m Anthony. This is the follow up to my intro. Since my diagnosis in 2021 I’ve been somewhat monitoring my HBV infection. My GI says I should hop on entecavir, but I want some second opinions on the situation. So I’ll go over my lab results through the years to try and paint a clear picture.
2021
HBV found accidentally during a screen test for my old GI.
HBV Quantitation - 50 IU/mL
Hep Be Ag - Negative
Hep Be Ab - Positive
Hep B Core Ab, Tot - Positive
Hep B Core Ab, IgM - Negative
AST - 36 IU/L → few months later in 2021 → AST - 60 IU/L
ALT - 59 IU/L → few months later in 2021 → ALT - 118 IU/L
Elastography results: 1.1 m/s elastrogram medium
<1.35 is low risk for clinical fibrosis (F0/F1), >2.20 is high risk (F3/F4),
I know that’s a lot to read. It’s actually kinda nice to see my results listed out like that for once. I personally want second opinions before I make a lifelong commitment. The fibroscan results are not good, but maybe there’s some testing that we should do prior to hoping on. Maybe waiting 6 months to test again and see where I’m at? Or this is a clear sign to hop on entecavir. Are there any other potential factors to fibrosis? I don’t know, so what do you think?
Hi @JJT22,
With the results you have shared, I think I agree with your assessment. I am also wondering if your doctor wants to start treatment now due to the risk of fibrosis. Your viral load and liver function test are not something of concern at this time.
Please have a conversation with your doctor about your thoughts on starting treatment. He or she will understand you and wait for the next labs before making a final decision. Best, Bansah1
Continuation of my introduction post – interpreting lab results & pregnancy concerns
Hi everyone,
I’m a 35-year-old female with chronic hepatitis B since childhood, diagnosed in September. I recently had the following tests:
• HBeAg: negative
• HBV viral load: 126 IU/mL
• Elastography (2D SWE): 9.84 kPa → interpreted as F3. I am slim, fasted before the exam, and my doctor said the measurement was done technically very well (IQR/Med 21%). I’m still worried it could be higher. No fatty liver (S0)
• Ultrasound: liver ~10 cm, normal size, normal echogenicity, slightly heterogeneous
From what I understand, these scores generally suggest no advanced fibrosis, though I know nothing is 100% certain.
I’m planning pregnancy and feeling anxious about my F3 stage. I also want to understand whether my blood tests and ultrasound can give some reassurance or if elastography should be repeated.
Some additional context:
• I don’t currently drink alcohol, but I drank socially on weekends for many years (I had no idea about my disease)
• My elastography was performed properly (IQR/Med 21%) and I fasted before the test, so I hope the measurement is reliable.
• I read that APRI and FIB-4 are useful but not 100% certain in ruling out F4, so I’m unsure how to interpret everything together.
I would really appreciate any insights on:
• How much to worry about F3 versus F4 in my situation
• Whether my labs and ultrasound suggest stability or if follow-up elastography is recommended
• Any advice for pregnancy planning with chronic HBV
Thank you so much for any guidance—I’m feeling anxious and would really value advice from people who understand chronic HBV.
From what I can see your results are all within range. Except your liver which you mentioned F3.
I myself, had 3 children. No complications from having HepB.
Try not to worry. we can’t control everything. And you are doing everything right. Your weight is good, you exercise, eat well, don’t drink. You are doing really well.
Thanks for your question, it’s hard to tell exactly what is going on from the description of the results. Would you mind posting exactly what your results say?
Hi @JJT22, thanks for your message. From your description, there’s nothing clearly indicating that you should be on treatment (at least according to current EASL guidelines). Were you given some sort of reason that drove your gastro’s suggestion that you should take treatment?
Completely understand your worry at the moment. I hope these answers can help:
My understanding is that SWE is quite accurate with regards to F3 diagnosis.
It is hard to determine stability over time from just a single test. That said, you should talk to your doctor about whether follow up testing is needed.
Probably the biggest one is vaccination of your partner and also newborn. Otherwise, we have a lot of previous threads talking about family planning:
t doesn’t say anything else. Next to the 0.2 it says Copies *1000/mL. I think the other number, 33.8kIU/L is a bit more clear because the scale is mentioned and it’s similar to IU/mL, and can be easily converted. I used this website (
My GI said we’d only be monitoring the condition if we were just going by the labs. But the fibroscan results seem nasty enough to hop on to hopefully prevent further damage from HBV. I can kind of see where he’s coming from, seeing as I was at a solid F0 about 4 years back. Here are some of my thoughts on it:
The labs seem clinically insignificant for HBV activity. Am I not at a point with my viral load where folks on treatment would like to be?
I’m not familiar enough with the whole HPV and medication mechanism. Would entecavir really help with lowering fibrosis if I’m getting fibrosis even with “good” labs?
We only checked for fatty liver, Hep. C, and Hep. B.. Shouldn’t we also look for autoimmune hepatitis, just in case?
The new scan is a new baseline and comparing it to results from 4 years ago isn’t ideal. A lot of things can change in 4 years. Wouldn’t it be better to retest fibrosis in some time see if it’s getting better or worse from this point on?
And on that last point, I’m getting an MRI done soon. We shall see how accurate the fibroscan result was and hopefully not find anymore surprises. Fingers crossed that hopefully it’s actually better than we thought. Thomas, what do you think about my bullet points?
Thank you @Bansah1 & @Caraline for your insights! He handed me the prescription, seems I’m free to pick whether I wish to go through with it or not. Good to know the medicine is well tolerated at least. I will update when new results are in
Thank you so much for your kind words It really means a lot. I’m trying to stay calm and positive, though it’s not always easy. I’m so happy to hear you had healthy pregnancies — that gives me hope. I do everything I can now — no alcohol, healthy diet, regular tests — and try to trust the process.
Thank you as well for taking the time to explain!
Could I please ask your opinion on something? I had to use nasal steroid spray (Avamys) for a few days recently — is it safe for people with inactive hepatitis B? Can such short local treatment cause any viral flare-up?
Thank you all again for your kindness and support — this community really helps me feel less alone.
Hi @Drew_rous, the reason I’m asking questions is that values for HBV DNA generally aren’t reported in such a way. Is there a possibility that you could take a photo of these results and share with us? That would allow me to give you a better answer.
It is not appropriate to convert kl/L into IU/mL using this tool as it is a completely different test and Units mean a different thing depending on the test.
Ah, apologies @JJT22, I had missed the increase in fibroscan results at the bottom there. Indeed, this is a reasonable approach - antivirals are really the only approach we have for hep B at the moment that consistently reduced disease progression. We do not necessarily know if Hep B is causing the increase of disease progression, but we do know that some people can have progressive liver injury even with normal ALTs. While you do have very low HBV DNA levels, which is one argument against the HBV being the causative factor, it is known that hBV DNA can fluctuate over time, so it may have just been in a low phase when you tested.
It is a choice that you and your doctor should make together. While I personally would lean towards to preventing liver disease with antivirals than wait for the damage to happen to really be sure, I respect that others may have a different take on things.
Hi @maya,
My feeling is that such a short (and likely low systemic level) of steroids taken as recommended would not affect your hepatitis B, but it is best to confirm with your doctor/pharmacist. Any @HealthExperts or @PharmacyExperts wish to comment?
First of all there was a typo in my previous post the scale was kIU/L not kI/L. Here are the photos. The scale in the 0.2 measurement is not given (kA = unspecified in German).
I’m not a professional health expert. Forty years + lived experience HepB.
we can’t control everything. And you are doing everything right. Your weight is good, you exercise, eat well, don’t drink. You are doing really well.
It really means a lot. I’m trying to stay calm and positive, though it’s not always easy. I’m so happy to hear you had healthy pregnancies — that gives me hope. I do everything I can now — no alcohol, healthy diet, regular tests — and try to trust the process.
