My Story, doubts and information...

[User_2020]

Hello .. Good night!

I am a 36-year-old Brazilian, I found out at the end of 2019 that I had hepatitis B during exams for surgery, I became so worried and I have no idea where I may have been infected because I always practiced safe sex, no drugs, no relatives positives. But I have already given up trying to find out how I may have been infected and now I am researching to start the best treatment.

In Brazil, the information about hepatitis and vaccine are not widely disseminated, I found out that in 2000 a protocol was adopted that all people born after that year are vaccinated in the maternity hospital, but whoever was born before is subject to the disease and I didn't have the least idea about the vaccine. I had hepatitis A in childhood and I thought that only this type existed and I was already immune.

My contamination is recent because I did checkup tests 3 years ago that were negative, but unfortunately I was not told that there was a vaccine. I have a high viral load, without fibrosis and without liver damage (by a computed tomography).

I visited two infectologists that repeat the exams after 6 months and now i'm a chronic carrier. The first doctor said that a biopsy would be needed and the suggestion of treatment would be peginterferon, because it is a recent infection and the possibility of cleaning the virus is greater, but she explained that the treatment can cause several side effects. I was afraid to do the biopsy and the interferon so I consulted a second doctor who said that the biopsy was not necessary and the fibroscan would be sufficient and the treatment with interferon is very painful and that there is a option of treatment with 1 year of tenofovir being able to clean the virus likewise, however, the probability is lower, I took fibroscan that shows no fibrosis. Even with doubts i opted for the option of the second doctor with tenofovir, as I have seen several reports of how difficult it is to treat with interferon and sometimes it also does not work. Seeing the user report luckman365, I really realized how complicated the treatment with interferon can be and he comments about not using interferon right at the beginning of the treatment, I haven't started the treatment yet, I'm waiting for the drug to be released, in Brazil the new version Tenofovir (Vemlidy) is not yet available, if it is necessary to extend the treatment for more than 1 year I will try to import it.

I am researching a lot about hepatitis and I found out that a study is currently being developed in Germany to create a therapeutic vaccine for people already infected with the virus, I will put the link below for those interested (https://www.thervacb.eu/)

If someone has been or is going through the same situation leave your comments and suggestions here. The blog has helped me a lot with my doubts, thanks for sharing your stories.