Am I still infected with HBV?

[SeanD]

I was diagnosed less than 2 months ago with Acute Hepatitis B.  Since then, my doctor has had me undergo weekly blood tests and each week they have shown an improvement.  Finally last week all the tests they were doing all came back normal.  Here are the tests they did and my results FROM ONE WEEK AGO:

Total Bilirubin 0.4
Bilirubin, Direct 0.2
Alk Phos 57
ALT 38
AST 24
Total Protein 7.9
Albumin 4.6

TWO weeks ago, all tests except ALT (count was 78) were normal.

Am I still infected with Hepatitis B?  My suspicion is that these tests alone do not tell me for sure.  If that is the case, is it too soon to again be given the actual Hepatitis tests for presence of the virus and antibodies: HBsAg (Hep B Surface Antigen), HBsAb (Hep B Surface Antibody) and the Anti-HBc (antibody to Hep B core)?

My doctor has a follow-up appointment with me scheduled for a week from today, but none of these tests in the prior paragraph have been scheduled or administered since the very first time, when they made the original diagnosis.  Shouldn't I get the antibody/surface antigen tests before my doctors' visit next week?

Obviously I am worried about becoming a chronic/long-term carrier and would like to know as soon as possible that I am or am not a carrier.  Knowing when I am no longer contagious to others would be a help, too.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Sean

[TravelGrl]

By the looks of your results, my guess is that you probably cleard the Hep B virus.  I think if you were going to be a carrier, your ALT would stay elevated.  Most people do clear this completely after the acute stage.  But this is only my GUESS.

I would call your doctors office and ask if you could have the antigen test before your visit so you could get the results at the time of the visit.  Explain your anxiety to him.  

Good Luck & Keep us Posted,
Jodi

[willing]

Hi Sean, here is good <a href="http://129.106.232.27/InterpshUNTER/hepb.html#Graph">graph </a> that helps understand the timeline of infection. As Jodi points  out, liver function tests don't make a definite statement about chronic infection  - you'll really need the results of the antibody tests to know whether your body has developed immunity and driven out the virus. Having them done before you meet with the Dr is a great idea -  it may still be  a bit early, depending on when you were infected. The results you'll want to be looking for are on the left: positive antibody values and negative antigen .