hepa b

just for follow up..below are my lab results last dec.08 2010..

hbv-dna---6  iu/ml
hbsag---3.5 iu/l
hbeag---non-reactive
sgpt---50.3 u/l

is there any change that hgsag will be non-reactive? my doctor advised me to bring entecavir good for 3 months during my work in the ship as a seaman..i want to know some more advise if its good or what to do,,i will be joining my ship this coming jan. 2011..up to now still continuing taking some entecavir 0.5 mg once a day..pls help me..

[stef2011]

hbsag---3.5 iu/l
check carefully, unit iu/l doesn t exsist, it should be iu/ml made by abbot architect and if so you are getting rid of hbsag it is almost negative, do add alinia and you might get it negative in weeks.
there is also a rare case of low hbsag due to the presence of mixed mutated hbsag and wildtype but i'd say it is not the case

hbv-dna---6  iu/ml
does it say <6iu/ml or 6iu/ml?if it says 6iu/ml it is better to add alinia again because in order to prevent resistance hbvdna must be totlly und

sgpt---50.3 u/l
this is not important if hbvdna und and hbsag decreasing

i want to know some more advise
do never miss a pill and take it away for meals (2hours after last meal and no meal in the following 2 hrs)

[john1968271983]

hbv-dna was <6iu/ml...is it ok that i will stop my medication after 3 months as advise by my doctor cause my hbv-dna drops a lot from 110,000,000 down to <6iu/ml.,,,is it possible to buy some entecavir from other countries and is the doctors prescription will be honored by pharmacies outside my country philippines..

thanks a lot for your advise..really do help me a lot

[stef2011]

.is it ok that i will stop my medication after 3 month

absolutely not, change doctor right away he doesn t understand a thing about hbv, entecavir stops only liver damage by making hbvdna und but hbsag/infected cells increase instead of lowering under etv

hbvdna doesn t reflect infection it is only a measure to see if drugs are working and reducing liver damage but even if hbvdna is und infection can be increasing.in your case hbvdna und will make sure you will not develop resistance to entecavir and your liver will regenerate and repair damage but at the same time the virus will infect more liver cells, remember that it is not the virus to make liver damage but your immune system that kills the liver cells producing the virus.etv will lower hbv replication and so the number of infected cells killed by your immune system

hbsag quantity reflect infection and only if hbsag is undetactable you have cleared virus, again hbvdna und means only little damage to the liver nothing else, if you stop drug you will get damage back doubled evenif hbvdna is und for years, there is just no correlation between infection clearance and hbvdna

some entecavir from other countries and is the doctors prescription
of course indian generics are very cheap

[john1968271983]

thanks for your advise...

1. mr.stef so what other medicines should i take inorder to decrease my hgsag..i also noticed the last results that my hbsag was increase from 3.0 to 3.5 but my hbeag was already negative..

[stef2011]

as said earlier hbeag is not even used by the virus and has very poor indication, hbsag increase is normal when you reach hbvdna und by antivirals, they block replication and liver damage but increase infection

you might try nizonide500 as we are doing in the community or interferon, i suggest to use ntz first and wait for interferon lambda to be available if nizonide doesn t work.this because normal interferon can have severe side while lambda don t and i see you have financial problems with entecavir and interferon is even more expensive, nizonide500 by lupin is cheap

[stef2011]

nizonide will slowly decrease hbsag if taken 3pills a day with food every 7-8hrs, it might take 6 months to start the decrease