False Positive??? I'm clear!!!

Here is a little of my history... in 1991 I went to give blood and was told I had Hepatitis and would be put on a national list... I did not know what hep was and went to my Dr. for blood tests.. it came back negative..I know at that time the test were not very acurate..

10 years later... a friend that I had kept in contact with and had shared needles with a total of 3 times (the only times) called and told me she was hep c + and I should get tested...I did...came back POS with #'s around 16,000 and AST/ALT about 47-48... I had no symtoms (symptoms)...I studied a lot and decided I would go with the "I'll more than likely die from something else since it is such a long term disease/infection.....Why worry I thought since I was 46 and at that time would have been infected with no medical problems for over 30 years... I also had a liver ultrasound done and the tech did not know why I was there..and told me "Why are we checking your liver... it is beautiful"...

3 more years later...I decide to check up on my #'s see where I am at...the test come back <10 NO VIRUS DETECTED... my AST/ALT are like 22/23  I don't have my papers right here...

What do you all think?  The original test paperwork says it is 40% chance of false POS...

could I have been neg all this time??

[stan1]

sounds like you're one of the lucky ones -- i was in a huge hurry when i posted my comment earlier and didn't really address your testing questions -- my guess would be that the 1991 test given when you attempted to donate blood gave an accurate positive reading for the hep c antibodies.   when you went to your doctor right after that to get checked and he came up with a negative, it's possible that the lab he used or the type of tests he ordered didn't reveal your problem.  i don't know exactly when hep c antibody tests came into use and were FDA approved, but it was probably around 1990 or slightly prior, so these were early days -- doctors had been finding people with hepatitis who tested negative for A and B and other "testable" types so a new label came into use: "non-A,non-B" until a test for C was devised.   someone here will probably know the year that C tests came into use.

the fact that you showed a viral load of 16,000 in 2001 is another piece of the puzzle that seems to indicate that you might have had it all along, combined with the needle-sharing tale.   it only takes one time....

stan

[merch]

Hi Stan,
Thanks! I will do that, I do have a super immune system...I have only been really sick with the flu about 20 years ago, not a cold to mention or anything since then, I work with the flying public and can have co-workers dropping like flies around me and I never pick up anything.  Thanks again for posting back to me!

[stan1]

15-20% of chronic hep c patients clear the virus on their own with no treatment -- their bodies' immune systems seem to handle it and the virus dwindles to undetectable levels, perhaps gone forever.   if i were you i'd get another PCR test in about a year to make sure you still get an undetectable result.

stan

[cuteus]

in 2001 you tested positive with a viral load and 3 years later there is none? that is what I understand from your question. If you were infected 10 years prior to the 2001 test then you were chronically infected at the time of the 01 test. It is rare that people clear on their own after they are chronically infected, but it does happen.  I would suggest another test also to be sure. The antibodies most likely will always be there, so it is best to go straight to the HCV qualitative PCR test.
good luck to you

[Califia]

To my best knowledge, Hep C antibody tests came into use in the spring of 1990.