Just got results back

[Quentinc]

Hello everyone, so i just recieved my lab results back for testing on genotype......first off let me say that i contacted hep c as an iv druguser so i pretty much know the timeframe i contacted it which would have been min 10 yrs ago and  max close to 20 yrs. Anyways reults came back as reactive but negative. Basically they said they can tell i had it, but cant tell i have it. They could not identify the genotype because the virus was not detected in my system. My question is that if its been at least ten yrs since i contracted it and results today say they cant detect it, and my liver results came back as healthier than most normal people, then would it be concievable that my body fought it off? In fact the doctor said that she would only expect these results from someone who has done their course of harvoni etc.....

[Mugwump]

It seems your body cleared the virus. Regardless I would still ask for another test for the presence of the virus after about 6 months just to put an absolute end to the testing

Funny I cleared with Harvoni in early 2015 and my GP wanted me to have a two year test for the presence of the virus. My best guess is that the local government wants data on those who reinfect for the infectious disease records data base. I didn't bother doing the test just to p&^% them off.

If I still have HCV then I don't want to know. Who knows the next time I see my GP maybe he might talk me into getting retested.

I would consider testing if the results were for a real world study on how the levels of antibodies dissipate over time with those who are treated with DAA's but retesting for the presence of the virus in the population of those who cleared past 6 months is a bit of an insult. All previous studies of those who cleared with interferon based treatments years ago are that if you make it past 6 months then the only way you will reinfect is through another blood to blood exposure to the virus.

So once you have been clear of the virus on repeated tests over a six month period there is no chance of being infectious with an active HCV infection.

[Quentinc]

Excellent thank you for the input and yes I probably will get tested again my hopes are pretty high that the test results will be the same considering my possible infection would have been at least 10 years ago so if I'm clear 10 years later I was probably clear a long time ago because they say if a person clears it on their own it's usually within the first 6 months after contact

[andrew j]

You should be fine.

[lporterrn]

Quentic - yes, you probably have been clear all this time. I assume you were young when you contracted it (under 40).

Do let docs/insurance know that you have the antibodies so that they don't send up alarms and put you through these tests again. As long as you don't come into contact with hep C, you'll remain free of hep C.

[Quentinc]

Yeah i would have contactracted it between 32 and 39 roughly. Had a basic test done in '09 and came back positive, another basic just for liver numbers again last year and again positive but totally normal liver numbers and then this recent one for the actual genotype and the liver number were even lower and they couldnt tell me genotype because they did not find the virus. So that sounds like i cleared it to me

[Lynn K]

For all who were once infected the hepatitis c antibody test will always come back positive for likely the rest of our lives so no reason to have a hep c antibody test.

The test you would want is the HCV RNA by PCR test that tests for the presence of the hep c virus itself. If that test is not detected you are not currently infected with the hep c virus.

Best of luck to you

[Quentinc]

Well i am not sure what test i got but i know it was for the purpose of identifying what genotype i had......they couldnt identify it because they couldnt find any virus....only antibodies detected

[Lynn K]

Antibodies are not the virus they are made by your own body in an attempt to fight off viral infection. Antibodies are part of your bodies own immune system.

So since you are not detected for the virus that means you are not infected with hep c. You will always test positive for antibodies but you do not have hep c.

Congrats

[Mugwump]

Yes to clarify a positive antibody test only means that you have at some time been exposed to the virus. Unfortunately however this does not mean that like many other diseases we will then develop a future immunity to HCV.

This is precisely why a vaccine for HCV is so hard to create. HCV tricks the human immune system in ways that we do not completely understand as yet. Indeed it messes with the human immune system in ways that beg for better understanding that could realistically lead to other very important discoveries about how the human immune system operates.

The studies done on cohorts of people who were successfully treated with interferon indicate that the levels of antibodies do change over time. Perhaps they even suddenly spike for some who clear with a DAA. If this is the case then it would explain a great deal about why some of us have had a very hard time post treatment.

It could be really interesting and perhaps important to study if those who are treated with DAA's or have spontaneously cleared have significant differences in an assay levels or differences in immune chemistry. And whether or not there is any difference with what was previously observed with the few studies already done on this subject. Indeed delving more carefully into this line of research might lead to avenues for the creation of a viable vaccines and treatments for much more than just HCV.

[Lynn K]

I haven't had an antibody test since I was originally diagnosed back in 1989 when I donated blood. Don't really see any point for me to have antibody testing as I know what I expect the result to be.

That is how I know for sure I had the measles back in the day. My doctor tested me and I have antibodies to the measles virus there wasn't a vaccine back then I had the mumps also. But as was said not all antibodies are able to beat all viruses.

Measles and mumps now have effective vaccines that cause our bodies to create antibodies to prevent measles and mumps infection. Many other viral infections also have effective vaccines. However, at this time there is no vaccination for hep c as there is for hep a and hep b. Antibodies to hep c are not able to prevent infection which has made it more difficult to find a vaccine.

[Mugwump]

Yes Lynn, but it seems that somehow the confusion that frequently occurs is because some clinicians do not adequately take time to explain the difference between being HCV active and being antibody positive or follow the simple guidelines put forth by the AASLD.

If found to have positive results for anti-HCV test and negative results for HCV RNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), persons should be informed that they do not have evidence of current (active) HCV infection.

What I am alluding to is that we could in future have a better understanding of why some people spontaneously clear the virus and then go on to slowly have a lessing of anti-hcv. Perhaps the study of this one puzzling aspect of HCV infection could lead to some very important medical breakthroughs. For instance effective immune therapies for a whole host of diseases, instead of the myriad of pie in the sky snake oil remedies that are being peddled to the public today.

[Lynn K]

I haven't really heard about people who previously tested positive for hep c antibodies  subsequently testing negative. Do you have a link to that information?  As far as I am aware once you test positive for hepatitis C antibodies you will test positive for the rest of your life.

I have seen some rumors here in our forum but haven't personally seen anything specifically proving that information.

My best guess about lessening of test results for the hep c antibody test is that perhaps the body stops producing the unneeded antibodies over time.

Might explain why we need booster shots for some vaccinations we had done many years prior because of lowering amounts of antibodies to things we were previously vaccinated against.

[Mugwump]

I haven't really heard about people who previously tested positive for hep c antibodies  subsequently testing negative. Do you have a link to that information?  As far as I am aware once you test positive for hepatitis C antibodies you will test positive for the rest of your life.

I have seen some rumors here in our forum but haven't personally seen anything specifically proving that information.

My best guess about lessening of test results for the hep c antibody test is that perhaps the body stops producing the unneeded antibodies over time.

Might explain why we need booster shots for some vaccinations we had done many years prior because of lowering amounts of antibodies to things we were previously vaccinated against.

Neither have I but the studies done in Japan indicate that the levels of anti-hcv do drop much more precipitously in certain individuals who clear the virus.

My supposition here is predicated upon the fact that HCV attacks only the liver which is one of the prime places for the production of key antibody building proteins:
therefore a more detailed study of exactly how HCV tricks some of the immune systems key functions is a very good place to start to quickly find out more about human immune functions and fill in some of glaring blanks in the roles that vaccinations play in developing effective immunity to a great many diseases.

When Catherine the Great was vaccinated for smallpox many of the Russian clergy who hated her accused her of being a mistress of witchcraft and Satan. In fact most people thought there was magic involved and indeed some anti-vaccination half whits in the US and elsewhere still do!!! Today a great many vaccines just work but the details of exactly how they work is not fully illuminated by any stretch of the imagination.

Cheers
Eric   

[gnatcatcher]

Lynn, here's one study: http://www.natap.org/2008/EASL/EASL_77.htm

After I was cured, I brought the subject up with my hepatologist, who has been in the HCV trenches for decades. He definitely thinks some people eventually test negative for the antibodies.

[lporterrn]

That is correct Gnatty, The two most commonly cited occurrences of loss of HCV-antibodies are 1) The Irish women cohort and 2) HIV/HCV coinfection.

The Irish women cohort is a long-terms observational study of a group of women infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b via contaminated anti-D immunoglobulin in 1977. I heard a talk on it about 10 years ago, and at that point they were already seeing a handful of women who spontaneously cleared, and whose HCV-antibodies were slipping to below levels typically detected on commercial antibody assays. The speculation is that those who clear it young might possibly lose antibodies after two or more decades. It seems to be related to immune function, which declines with age, so we don't know what will happen to us baby boomers after we are cured.

As for HIV/HCV coinfection - the loss of antibody in this case is related to HIV's affect on immune function.

That immune function is soooooo important. As much as I love discussing this stuff, it reminds me I better go for a walk this morning!

[gnatcatcher]

...That immune function is soooooo important. As much as I love discussing this stuff, it reminds me I better go for a walk this morning!

-hope it was a good one. Gotta keep those telomeres long