Occult hep B

[Emilia30]

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone can help. I have been reading a lot today about occult hep B.

I have been diagnosed with chronic hep B during pregnancy. Most likely I was infected as a baby as my mum suffered Acute Hep b when I was 6 months old. I'm hbe- and have very low hep b dna.

Now my son has been given full vaccine (3 shoots) first within 12 hours of his birth, second at 1 month and third at 6 months. At the age of 1 he was tested for antibodies and antigen. Anybodies were grater that 1000 and antigen was negative.

Is there any possibility he could have occult hep B?

Thanks in advance for your help :)

[Emilia30]

Thank you :) at last i know i'm not the only sensitive mother :) I live in UK but might just wait to go to Poland and follow up with test in few months time. My hubby thinks I'm overreacting and he's probably right. Due to my levels and hbe- and all good results for my son test I have really no reason to worry but I worry as a mother would... I decided to stop reading all of those things in Internet as otherwise I will always find something to worry about ;) xx

[Emilia30]

Thank you do much for you reassuring message :) I also ordered another set of tests privately to check his hbcag and it  came back today negative, which means his high levels of antibodies are due to vaccination rather than recovering from hbv. I have asked private laboratory how sensitive they test are and waiting for answer. They said normally they don't make tests if you hbvag is negative and hbcag is negative so waiting to hear back from them. My viral levels are very low and my hbe is also negative which makes me believe he is fully protected :)

[twinboys1girl4me]

In my opinion he is fine.  I too was HbeAg with low viral load when I had all my kids, which is even more reason not to worry.  As kids age many will loose that positive antibody because he body gets lazy due to non-exposure.  However, if exposed (by booster or true exposure) the body will have that memory and mount an attack.  He is fine and with his high antibody and everything else negative he will not have any DNA.  Been there and done that for no real reason to, just was a worried mother for nothing.  :)

[twinboys1girl4me]

HbeAg negative

[Emilia30]

Could I have that done at any laboratory? Would that be viral level test? Thank you for your answer! I think I might do that test just to be triple safe :)

[twinboys1girl4me]

Your son is really protected due to his high antibody and negative surface antigen.  I completely understand your worries because I was there not long ago.  I have 3 kids and decided to ask their pediatrician to make sure they were still showing antibodies.  All 3 of them lost their surface antibodies, which I now know is common as kids age.  I had their pediatrician order labs for hbsag, hbsab, HbeAg, and DNA.  All came back negative so we decided to give them all a booster and a month later they all got their antibodies back, which I now know is also common.  Here in the US a DNA test has to come from a doctors orders, and you may have a hard time getting it with a negative hbsag and positive hbsab but you sure can try.  Your son sounds like he is perfectly protected though.

[March06]

In Occult HBV,  hbsag  is negative, Detectable HBV DNA and no antibody against hbsag. because there is no antibody against  hbsag reinfection can occur.your baby has enaugh antibody against hbv so he doesnt have Occult hbv. i think he is not infected its the vaccine that gave him the protection.

[sorte]

not exactly true, in occult hbv there may be some antibodies but on the low level

[studyforhope]

there is no need to worry about occult hbv in this case. if you cant get it out of your mind, ask for a hbv dna test.