Hi I am so happy for you. It is great news. You are lucky that your body was able to fight it off.
My best to you
Dee
I agree with Can-do-man that the Undetectable (negative) HCV RNA test indicates that you do not have Chronic Hepatitis C. While it is possible that the positive antibody test was a false positive, it is most likely you were exposed to Hepatitis C at some point in your life and your immune system was able to fight it off. As Can-do said, this happens in about 20-25% of people who are exposed to the virus.
You will always carry the antibodies and will always test positive on a Hep C antibody test, but you do not have the disease (Chronic Hepatitis C). You cannot pass it to anyone because you do not have it.
"Can doctors tell the difference between a false positive result and a prior infection?"
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A false positive antibody test would probably be negative on a second antibody test. A prior infection will show positive on repeated antibody tests.
Here is a link that gives you some more information about Hepatitis C testing:
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/hepatitis-c/tab/test/
One other scenario is that you might have been infected and the viral count is undetectable. In any scenario, go get tested again in 6 months and after that's undetectable you are good to go.
Congrats, what this means is at one time you were exposed to the virus and your immune system beat it back. This happens in around 20 to 25% of cases. Remember you will always carry the antibodies but they will do you no harm... Could it have been a "false positive"? Yes but unlikely. Best to you going forward.