Hep C Antibody 30.30

[as400]

My friend just got his test results back showing Hep C anitbody 30.30.
From what I understand, notmal shoudl be < 1.
His appointment with s specialist is one month away and i just wanted to know if anyoene can help me understand what this score means.

His AST is 158 and ALT is 296. I feel like one month is too long of a wait. Wanted to see if anyone's had similar scores and what was the outcome.
thanks

[AWorriedMom]

As Can-Do says, your friend has a strong positive antibody response. That means it is very likely he does not have a false positive. His next step is an HCV/RNA by PCR test, better known as a viral load test. This will tell him if he has the actual virus or if he was just exposed but fought it off.  I will tell you, though, that it is very unlikely he fought it off with his ALT and AST elevated.

Hepatitis C is a very slowly progressive disease. Waiting a month is not a problem at all. Many of us have waited years to be successfully treated. And like Can-Do says, cure rates are great and duration of treatment is short with minimal side effects. Wishing your friend the best.

[can-do-man]

From your post it looks as if your friend is way above the cutoff range for at least the antibodies of Hep C.Their elevated AST and ALT points to be having chronic Hep C but only a PCR will tell for sure.

As for waiting a month that is not a problem. If the person does have the active virus then the next step is to determine how much damage and what course of treatment is best for their genotype.

Cure rates have never been better so no need to worry to much at this point. Welcome here and wishing the best for all concerned.