Deemed an inactive carrier

[Sue921]

I don't understand I was told by my doctor that I am an inactive carrier for HBV. what does inactive mean? I was hospitalized some 40 years ago as a teenager with the HBV. My concern is do I still have hepatitis B, if anyone can help me understand my labs I would greatly appreciate it. My most recent labs are
                                                                              HBV DNA-Undectable
                                                                               HBcAB-Positive
                                                                               HBsAG-Negative
                                                                               HBsAB-Negative
                                                                               HBeAG-Negative
                                                                               HBeAB-Positive
I was treated 2 years ago for HCV with Peg-Interon & Ribavirin I was co-infected with HBV, my HCV was chronic the viral load was in the millions for the HCV. But I am considered cured for HCV now. My doctor did inform me I need to be tested every 6 months for the HBV, I got confused and forget to ask questions like do I still have HBV. Many thanks for a reply.         Sue

[NashPred]

First of all…Congratulations on your HCV cure (SVR).

I was also co-infected with HBV and HCV so your post is of interest to me. I just finished treatment for HCV last month and am still working on HBV treatment.

Hopefully others can comment on your test results because I am not really sure.

“Inactive” usually means that the virus is still there but at very low or undetectable levels. What is interesting is that you seem to be as close to being cured as you can get without actually being cured and developing antibodies (HBsAb)….this AND your HBsAg is negative. Those result look good though and I would gladly swap my results for yours if I could. Again I hope others can comment on this.

Have ever tested positive for antibodies (HBsAb) in the past? If this was 40 years ago, maybe the HBsAb’s just aren’t showing up anymore.

Were you ever diagnosed as having “Chronic” HBV?

How long did you take Peg-Intron?

Are you currently taking any medication for HBV?

When was the last time you tested positive for HBsAg or HBV DNA?

So sorry to answer your question with more questions, but your case may be similar to mine so any info you can give may be helpful to me. It may also help others have all the info needed to help answer your question.

[cajim]

Your HBsAG-Negative, sounds like your HBV was cleared too.

[ihaveaquestionplsanswer]

with that case...would it mean that if she/he was a healthcare professional, he/she may now continue to work, (as a nurse for example)?

[zellyf]

I'm not sure that you are a carrier.  Your surface antigen is negative.  You look like you cleared the virus

[cajim]

I think so.  If she/he no longer has HBV, she cannot give it to patients as a nurse.

[pregpos]

If she/he can work as health professional with that test results?

Absolutely.

In my case, I have this following results HBsAg positive, HBs antibody negative, HB core antibody total positive, HbeAg negative and HBe antibody negative.Liver profile are all within normal limits.

I am in the process of going back to work as a nurse here in the US from being away for a year overseas.They offered me  the job but the only problem is that my OB (since I am 4 mos pregnant) put one of the restrictions that I cannot lift more than 15 lbs ****, so I couldn't function as a nurse in this case but I really need to talk to my OB ASAP if my restriction can be lifted.
In general, I feel pretty much healthy I don't have any nausea/vomiting as others experienced during their pregnancies or any problems related to pregnancy.Other restriction that I have are no strong fumes or odor,again this is because of my pregnancy and universal precaution (this applies to all health professionals either you are HBV positive or not).

[ihaveaquestionplsanswer]

thanks for the info