In short, we don’t know. But there is some progress being made showing positive results.
Thomas
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Functional cure sounds good.I think with that at hand hbv will be history soonest
I can’t appreciate the effort of the scientist less.You guys are really a blessing to humanity.I wish I can see you one day and pay proper appreciation.i love you all.please can you at least predict a timeline let’s hold onto to keep us moving?I know this a tough one I wouldn’t mind if not.
Dear @Godsown,
We have seen the (understandable) frustration from many patients in this forum from the failed promises made regarding a lot of antiviral technologies in recent years. At least from my perspective, predicting timelines only causes more anxiety than it alleviates in the community. The pace of drug development is not predictable and can be impacted by many factors.
I know this is not the answer that you (or the patient community here on the forum) would like to hear. I would echo @Caraline’s previous comment that at least there are good drugs which can slow (and also stop!) the progression of liver disease.
All the best.
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What do experts think of this?
My viral loads has been undetectable for the past three years and I am hoping to quit taking meds after my next checkup next year if my lab work is good.
Any advice?
Dear @Grithcel13,
The EASL advice mentions you should be HBsAg-negative before it is safe to stop antivirals. If only your viral load (HBV DNA) is undetectable, then you may talk to your liver specialist about stopping antivirals. It’s important you are under very close monitoring during this time as some people can get relapse of the infection and experience severe liver disease.
I want to emphasise the following from previous posts:
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Hi @Grithcel13,
Thanks for your question. I don’t think you have to stop you medication because you are undetectable. In other for someone to stop treatment they might have lost their surface antigen, remained undetectable, normal liver function results and liver images for sometime and it has to be done correctly.
I don’t think it is advisable to stop treatment because of an undetectable status. If that was the case many patients will have already been off it many years ago. You might want to really work with your provider on this. Don’t stop taking your medications without any provider guidance as you might reactivate the infection and it could come back with vengeance.
I hope this helps. Bansah1
I just consulted with the Doctor that put me on Drugs.
After taking Drugs for 10 months:
Undectable viral load
Good LFT
Normal scan
He ask me to stop medication that I’m good.
I should come for routine test in six months time
@ThomasTu @availlant @john.tavis @HealthExperts @ScienceExperts
Dear @Godsown ,
Have you cleared HBsAg? Stopping antiviral therapy without having achieved HBsAg loss is potentially dangerous, with strong reactivation of HBV infection and liver damage possible.
Let us know.
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Dear @Godsown,
Removing NUC therapy with HBsAg present is potentially dangerous and not recommended by current treatment guidelines. Aggressive HBV reactivation is common when this is done. I would discuss this further with your doctor.
Best regards,
Thomas and Andrew are correct. Stopping nuc treatment now is not within the clinical guidelines and HBV will almost certainly resurge. Your undetectable status just means that the drugs are doing exactly what they were designed to do: stop viral replication and reduce the inflammation in your liver. Long term nuc treatment can result in clearance of HBV, but is is quite rare (~5% or so after 10 years; the studies on nuc-driven clearance have given varying numbers for the clearance rate, but they all are very low).
John.
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@Thomas tu. Sir…it was 2018 when i was diagnosed hbv infection and during hbv viral checked .it was high and started on tenofavir treatment. Now after 5 years of treatment…i rechecked my hbv viral load …the report was undectable and my Liver function test are all in normal range. So should i continue my treatment or should i stop tenofavir treatment.please enlighten me.
Hi @Ugyen,
Thanks for your message. For most patients these treatments are life long or until there is a cure. From your results, I do not think you meet the criteria to stop treatment. Many of us are in the same state as you, but we have to continue the treatment. Reactivation is possible and can lead to worse outcome (liver failure) if you stop your treatments. I will encourage you to continue taking your medication and do not stop without your provider saying so. I hope this is helpful, Bansah1.
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Hi @Ugyen,
As mentioned in the above thread and by @Bansah1 , if you are still HBsAg positive, it is not recommended that you stop treatment because of the high risk of reactivation and possibility to lead to liver damage.
Thomas
My hbs ag by elisa test reading is 7.13…am i still positive for hbs ag??
Hbsag…elisa test…7.13
Anti Hbe; 2.13
Hbe ag: 0.54
Hbv viral load… undectable.
Liver test .all normal range…
Currently treatment. tenovafir
Any suggestions for my above report. Shoud i continue treatment or discontinue treatment?
Am i still positive for hbgsag ??
@Ugyen
I’m not a health expert but have experience in HBV, am on treatment myself. You must take tablet every day. Medicine keeps the virus from doing damage. If you stop, virus will start damaging your liver and medicine may not work.
What does your doctor say?
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Dear @Ugyen ,
Some details about understanding your test results for you and the community at large:
If you are using a qualitative HBsAg test, the result will report positive or negative.
If you are using a quantitative test the result will either be target not detected, < 0.05 IU/mL or some quantitative result (in IU/mL).
You should familiarize your self with the kind of HBsAg test your doctor is using. It is important to always include the units of measurement.
Normally, HBe and anti-HBe tests are qualitative and use a ratio of signal to background noise (also called “cuttoff”) to report test results.
For HBe, a ratio of signal to cuttoff of < 1 indicates no HBeAg is present.
For anti-HBe, this is a special kind of “competitive” test where the value needs to be < 1 to indicate the presence of free antibodies to HBeAg.
In any case, your current HBsAg ELISA test result indicates you still have HBsAg present.
Also you are negative for HBeAg but also negative for HBeAg antibodies.
You should not stop your current antiviral therapy.
What about reactivate and non reactivate?