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Hepatitis C (Expert Forum)
HCV Positive or Negative
Answered by
Douglas Dieterich, MD - Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology
The Mount Sinai Medical Center
New York - NY
Questions posted in the Hepatitis C Forum are answered by medical professionals from The Mount Sinai Medical Center.
HCV Positive or Negative
by iqbal11, Oct 18, 2008 06:43AM
about six yeras ago HCV antibody Test= border Line
Cutoff =1.0
But PCR of HCV = Negative
Now HCV antibody =+ve
Cutoff = 4.19
But PCR of HCV = Negative
Is it HCV to me or not and treatment can be done or not??
Cutoff =1.0
But PCR of HCV = Negative
Now HCV antibody =+ve
Cutoff = 4.19
But PCR of HCV = Negative
Is it HCV to me or not and treatment can be done or not??
Doctor's Answer
by Douglas Dieterich, MD, Dec 16, 2008 09:10PM
, Dec 16, 2008 09:10PM
Hi, I totally agree with Jakied. It's possible to have a false positive screening test (HCV antibody test), especially if you have never had risk factors for HCV acquisition, like intravenous drug use, blood transfusion before 1991 or men who have sex with men. If you are worried and absolutely want to know if your positive result is a real positive, the RIBA test (immunoblot assay) will tell you if you have or not the antibodies. If you have risk factors, you probably got the infection and cleared it and your antibody titers are low and near the detectable level, that's why the result is borderline.
The important thing here is that there is no virus in your blood (PCR negative). This means you DONT have chronic disease and you DONT need treatment. You are among the lucky ones who clear the infection spontaneously. DTD
The important thing here is that there is no virus in your blood (PCR negative). This means you DONT have chronic disease and you DONT need treatment. You are among the lucky ones who clear the infection spontaneously. DTD
However, I would ask your doctor for the Riba confirmatory antibody test. this is VERY
specific for Hcv antibody and will be the definite result of having Hcv antibody or not.