Tested positive a few years back,recently tested negative and now inconclusive?

[confused10]

Hi all, back in I 2009 I tested positive for Hep C. Doctor told me to wait until treatment options were better in the coming years and that my viral load was low and not severe. Now I went back to a liver clinic where they specialize in hep to get my bloods done again, (this was in April of this year)  and got a letter in the mail saying that I tested negative and that if I tested another negative I would have cleared the virus on my own. I recently went back to a different clinic 2 weeks ago and my test results came back inconclusive. So basically, a positive years before, negative and then inconclusive this year. Can anyone give me any insight on what this might mean?  Im going back in about 2 weeks time but if anyone has any ideas or could help in the meantime to rest my mind I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

[Lynn K]

If you are having the hep c antibody test once exposed to hep c we all will test positive even if cured for the rest of our lives.

If you are having the test for the hep c virus itself HVC RNA by PCR it is possible to test positive and then later test negative as about 25% of people can fight the virus off on their own.

I could help to understand what testing you are having and the results if you could get a copy of your results and post them here so we can help interpret exactly what you are seeing.

And yes there is a small chance of false positives. But I would also like to add hep c is a very slowly acting illness it takes many years to decades for significant liver damage to occur for most people depending on their individual circumstances so if you do have it it will become obvious with testing at some point. And today hep c is much more easily treated with better tolerated and highly effective medicines so even if you do have hep c you have nothing to worry about. 

This is a link to how hep c infection is determined

http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/pdfs/hcv_flow.pdf

good luck

[confused10]

Thank you so much for your reply! So if the most recent test that was inconclusive, do you think it might have shown up inconclusive because I might have cleared it but was once infected with the virus?

[Lynn K]

Dunno I am not a doctor and I don't know what test you have had done. Was it the test for the virus the HCV RNA by PCR

My report says Not detected so I am guessing because you say the result was reported as inconclusive it may have only been the antibody test.

The only way to know whether or not you currently are infected with hepatitis c if you have had a positive antibody test is to have the test for the virus itself the HCV RNA by PCR.

Per the link I sent you that is the testing protocol