Question for scientists - is it possible to determine the duration of HBV infection, at least more-or-less (i.e. 5 or 10 year “precision”)?
Was I infected at birth (~95% chance a baby won’t clear the infection), or rather when I was around 10 (how? hairdresser shaving parts of my head, using dirty scissors, contact sports at school etc.), or maybe when I was around 18 and was operated at the hospital (at this age, I should have ~95% chance to recover from a hepatitis B infection)?
I’m in my forties now, HBe negative, producing HBe antibodies, quite high HBsAg levels (above 25000 before starting treatment, around 11000 when checked the last time - around 1.5 years after starting treatment with Vemlidy).
We have no way of establishing how long a person has been infected with HBV. The diagnostic tools we have can only tell us when a person is in the acute (initial) phase of infection of the chronic phase of infection.
You have mentioned your diagnosis with HBV infection but without some more test results from you we cannot determine what stage of the infection you are at.
In general, HBV infection is more likely to become chronic in people who get infected in the womb from their mother or are immunosuppressed. This may or may not be the case for you.