How long after exposure for accurate test?

[msfan]

Hi all, great forum. I was just diagnosed as a chronic hep b carrier (probably from my mother since she is from a part of the world where it's endemic, according to my doctor). My doctor said that I have a low viral count. My boyfriend of a couple months got tested for STD's a couple weeks ago and everything came back negative, including for hep b. I'm not sure if this means he is immune or not, since all he said was that he was "negative for everything" and that was good enough for me. Our last sexual encounter was 2 weeks prior to his test (we are long distance). My question is, how accurate is his hep b diagnosis? How long after exposure does the virus take to appear? I'm really, really worried now. Of course, I will ask him to go to the doctor for more detailed testing and to get vaccinated if he isn't immune, but I just wanted to get a better understanding of how this works since his results can take a week or more to come back and I'll be so worried during that time. How long should he wait before getting re-tested in order to get accurate results?  Thanks for any help...

[Jakied]

The window period for hep b is out to six months.  The greater the number of days after exposure the more accurate the antibody result is.

A 2 week neg is a good start but not definite.  ask him to be tested at 3 months and then 6 months.  In the meantime, use a condom for safer sex.

If your bf is indeed neg after the 3 month test, TELL (don't ask) him to get the hep b vaccine.  This is a series of three shots which will give immunity to hep B infection.  Unfortunately, as of now, there is not a vaccine for hep C and that medical breakthrough is a long time off, if ever.

[msfan]

gosh, my mind is somewhere else tonight...i meant hep b, not "heb p"...  :/

[msfan]

sorry, I meant to say, how accurate is his heb p result?...not diagnosis...