Positive weakly??

Hi, I am currently travelling round asia with my girlfriend.. I have been feeling very tired lately so i went for a blood test on a stop in thailand and got told i am hep c weakly positive on a hcv test (Immuno-diffusion rapid test) I really dont understand this as they were no help at all and said get re-tested in 3months!

[Jakied]

Your test was probably the Elisa screening test.  A 'weak pos' has a signal of <3.5.

If you can, ask for the 'Riba' test.  This is the confirmatory antibody test which is

VERY specific for Hcv antibody.  A 'weak pos' screening test is usually neg on the

Riba test.  Neg Riba means no antibody so no infection.

Good luck.

[dannyte]

Thanks for your reply, All it says on the paper is a (Anti HCV: Positive (weakly) Method used (Immune-diffusion rapid test)
The best answer i got from them is come back in 3months and test again to see if its been cleared??? Great help kinda ruined my holiday that!

[Jakied]

Your 'weak pos' screening test will, in all probability, be neg on the Riba test.

Do you have a risk factor for hep c?  Any blood transfusions, especially before 1991,

or intravenous drug use?

[dannyte]

Hi just had a RIBA test today and came back neg?! So im guessing that is ok then just does explain why hcv was positive though??

[Marcia2202]

Congrats!

It looks like it was a false positive. Maybe the blood or tools were tainted.

[Jakied]

The screening test is VERY sensitive and can pick up antibodies other than HCV.

This is called cross reaction.  The riba test is VERY specific for HCV antibodies only.

Neg Riba means no prior exposure and no hcv antibodies in your bloodstream.

So you are good to go.

[dannyte]

Thanks for all your replies ;) Could it then be cause by heb b cross as i have had vac's for that last year?

[Marcia2202]

I don't think so, False positives do unfortunately happen.

[rockin516]

YEAH I WOULDNT WORRY ABOUT IT FOR NOW  ARE YOU FROM THE STATES? IF SO MAYBE GET RECHECKED WHEN YOU COME BACK IF YOU ARE STILL WORRIED, SO UNTIL THEN ENJOY YOUR TRAVELING, BUT ALSO WATCH GETING TATS WHILE YOUR THERE. HAVE FUN!!!! ROCKIN516

[anxiety55]

T best for HCV diagnosis is PCR for HCV RNA in blood. It is very specific for the virus infection. I also had positive antibodies and was alo scared because I am medical student amd once came in to direct contact with patient´s blood, but this was only a false alarm because they chceked my blood with PCR 3 times and found no virus (it was negative). False positives are quite often (I personaly know some people that had same results). RIBA is also very specific. Acording to CDC, person who was found HCV elisa positive and then RIBA negative is consider clean and no evaluation is needet.