Contracting Hepatitis

When I was 11 years old I contracted Hepatitis somehow.  Was seen by my small town doctor, my mother was told bedrest and should be fine,which after 3 weeks I was.  She was told I should never give blood.  I am now 55 years old and have never had one single symptom or event related to that exposure nearly 45 years ago. It has always been as if I never even had it. Have been in extraordinary good health all of my adult life and have never really thought about it since my childhood.  My daughter now works for Red Cross and the subject of blood donation came up.  I told her I could never give, but my fiance' decided to give and we were both shocked to get a letter back from the lab saying he had the hepatitis antibodies in his system showing he had been exposed to hepatitis and could not give blood.He had given blood before with no problem.  Of course I immediately realized he could have been exposed by me.  I was stunned and dismayed to think I had exposed him to this.  Can you contract hepatitis from someone who simply had it all those many years ago,and has had no chronis problem from it or does not have an active case?  He has never had any symptoms that would have led him to believe he was suffering from hepatitis. If this is the case, what can he expect from having these antibodies in his system?

[Califia]

Antibodies merely indicate exposure to the virus.  Further diagnosis would be required to determine whether there is active virus at play.

[cuteus]

what hepatitis did you have? a,b,c, etc.
no way to tell how you can transmit it without knowing what type it is.

[Lynne5477]

You didn't say whether you had Hep A, B, or C (non-A, non-B) as a child.  Once you have Hep, you will always carry the antibodies but that does not mean the virus is active.  Most of us here have contracted Hep C which is primarily spread by blood-to-blood contact, ie. transfusions, IV drug use, etc.  And, many don't know how it was contracted because we didn't have any of the risk factors.
  
At any rate, you need to find out which type Hep he is showing antibodies for and then do further testing to see if the virus is active.  Chances are that if it is Hep A or B, once you have had it once, you don't ever get it again (but will always have the antibodies).

You can also go to www.hepatitisneighborhood.com and get some good info.

Good luck in your quest.

[niresus]

Just to add information, when I was ll there wasn't any discussion about what type of Hepatitis it was and since I have never had any problem in the last 45 years, never bothered to explore it.  I gues I just figure it was Hepatitius B since those are the antibodies my fiance' is now showing and again the question is can he get his antibodies just from MY antibodies or do you get them from someone with fullblown hepatitis.  Maybe Im not even asking the question right since it was such a nonissue in my life, sort of like saying you had your tonsils out when you were a kid and then it never comes up again.

[Lynne5477]

Maybe this will help answer your question.  It is from hepatitisneighborhood.com.  You can also put "hepatitis B" in your search engine and you'll get lots of sights to visit for more info.

There are a series of blood tests used to determine if someone has infection with the hepatitis B virus.

Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg)

The HBsAg test looks for the presence of the presence of proteins on the surface of the hepatitis B virus.  

If the blood test is positive for HBsAg, the person is actively infected with hepatitis B and is able to transmit the infection to others.

The hepatitis B surface antigen appears 1- 10 weeks after exposure to the hepatitis B virus.  

If HBsAg is still present after 6 months of infection, the person is considered to be chronically infected with hepatitis B virus.

Hepatitis B surface Antibody (HBsAb)

This blood test looks for the presence of protective substances called antibodies, produced by the immune system in order to fight infection.

If the HBsAb test is positive, it means antibodies against hepatitis B are present and that there is immunity from future infection by the hepatitis B virus.  

A positive test result can mean that the person has either been vaccinated against hepatitis B, or has been exposed to the hepatitis B virus at some time in the past and has generated an immune response.

Hepatitis B core Antibody (HBcAb)

If the HBcAb test is positive, it indicates exposure to hepatitis B and the development of antibodies to only part of the hepatitis B virus.  

Hepatitis B core antibody does not provide protection from the hepatitis B virus.  It is often found in people who have chronic hepatitis B infection.

If the hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) is found with the hepatitis B surface antibody (HbsAb), it means that the person has recovered from the hepatitis b infection.

If the hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) is found with the hepatitis B surface antigen, (HbsAg), it means that the person has chronic hepatitis B infection.