Many people feel ';fine'; without any noticable symptoms of HCV. This is just the nature of the virus. What this sounds like is that they ran a liver panel and it showed an increase in ALT and AST the enzyme markers they look at. The test they are running now is to maybe confirm.
There are five tests that one must undergo if the first one is either positive or a false positive and they are:
Anti-HCV tests detect the presence of antibodies to the virus, indicating exposure to HCV. These tests cannot tell if you still have an active viral infection, only that you were exposed to the virus in the past. Usually, the test is reported as “positive” or “negative.” There is some evidence that, if your test is “weakly positive,” it may not mean that you have been exposed to the HCV virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its guidelines in 2003 and suggests that weakly positive tests be confirmed with the next test before being reported.
HCV RIBA test is an additional test to confirm the presence of antibodies to the virus. In most cases, it can tell if the positive anti-HCV test was due to exposure to HCV (positive RIBA) or represents a false signal (negative RIBA). In a few cases, the results cannot answer this question (indeterminate RIBA). Like the anti-HCV test, the RIBA test cannot tell if you are currently infected, only that you have been exposed to the virus.
HCV-RNA test identifies whether the virus is in your blood, indicating that you have an active infection with HCV. In the past, it was usually performed by a test called a qualitative HCV. Qualitative HCV RNA is reported as a “positive” or “detected” if any HCV viral RNA is found; otherwise, the report will be “negative” or “not detected”. The test may also be used after treatment to see if the virus has been eliminated from the body.
If positive for sure:
Viral Load or Quantitative HCV tests measure the number of viral RNA particles in your blood. Viral load tests are often used before and during treatment to help determine response to treatment by comparing the amount of virus before and after treatment (usually after 3 months); successful treatment causes a decrease of 99% or more (2 logs) in viral load soon after starting treatment (as early as 4-12 weeks), and usually leads to viral load being not detected. Some newer viral load tests can detect very low amounts of viral RNA, and some laboratories no longer do qualitative HCV RNA tests if they use one of these versions of viral load testing.
Viral genotyping is used to determine the kind, or genotype, of the virus present. There are 6 major types of HCV; the most common (genotype 1) is less likely to respond to treatment than genotypes 2 or 3 and usually requires longer therapy (48 weeks, versus 24 weeks for genotype 2 or 3). Genotyping is often ordered before treatment is started to give an idea of the likelihood of success and how long treatment may be needed.
It could be that you have recently been exposed and it's too early to predict with the first initial test (hcv exposure and the time it takes to develope antibodies is in up to 51 days).
It could be that you have been exposed within the last 6 months and your body may be fighting it off.
Or, you could be positive and the lab didn't follow proper proceedures resulting in a false positive.
A person doesn't always notice symptoms of HCV for at least 8 years or decades...often the symptoms of HCV are misdiagnosed. Flu-like symptoms seem to be a major complaint, but there are many other issues one with hcv may have as far as health. You could be diagnosed with depression or other mental illnesses. You may have bowel issues, ie, gastrointeritis, skin rashes, hair loss, anxiety/panic attacks.
Be thankful they are running the proper tests and I am sending you some good luck it's not hcv. BUT, if it is HCV it is very good to know now, then decades later. Many folks suffer years of misdiagnosis's, take wrong medications and some the answer to their complaints come too late, or too late to be a good canadite for treatment.
Keep in touch.Could a screening be a False Positive on HIV hepatitis C?
I would also like to tell you that most couples do not spread hcv to one another. Anotherwords, HCV is not a true STD because of the blood issue. There are more couples where one only has HCV than there are with both having HCV. It is not commonly spread via sexual intercourse. :O)
Report Abuse
which test came out positive - the HIV or the hepatitis?
if it was the HIV, symptoms can take up to 10 years to present themselves.
if it was hepatitis, i suppose it can take awhile for symptoms to surface as well (but alot less than 10 years, probably more like weeks or months).
i am just curious as to what prompted you to get the tests done.
but, of course, doctors are smart but they are not perfect. things can go wrong and mistakes can be made, even by supersmart individuals. there could've been a mix-up.
get retested. and talk to someone you know you can confide in while you wait it out.
good luck to you.
If the type of testing for HIV was an ELISA antibody test than it is possible for someone to have a false-reactive (they should not have used the word positive with you , as that is innacurate) result. That is why it is standard when one gets a positive ELISA HIV antibody test a Western Blot antibody test is used to confirm HIV status. In my region, these are always done in tendem (when you get your results, a western blot would already have been performed to screen out any false positives. All tests should be done in this manner.
With Hep C antibody testing, there are a few issues. 1. It could be a false positive result or 2. It could be a positive result but you have already cleared the virus from your body and are now Hep C free or 3. You may have active Hep C. Confirmatory testing must be done with every Hep C antibody positive test to rule out those who have cleared the virus, and those who are a true-false positive.
No comments:
Post a Comment