hep c test results

[jay1975]

Hello, I am new to this forum although I have been reading it for a long time.  Hope you guys can help me out abit with my questions/worries.  I believe that I was exposed to HCV through unprocted sex in a relationship with a girl who I later found out was positive for HCV.  Have had many symptoms for the past 2 years (dry eyes & mouth, ruq, luq, oral lichen planus...ect).  Started testing for Hcv about 4 months after symptoms started.  Heres my results...
4/05 Hcv antibody "weakly positve" - Riba negative
9/05 Hcv antibody negative s/co ratio 0.2 range 0.0-0.9
5/06 HCV antibody negative s/co ratio 0.3 range 0.0-0.9
6/06 HCV antibody negative s/co ratio 0.2 range 0.0-0.9
7/06 HCV Riba test - negative
8/06 HCV RNA Qualitative - Negative

All Of my LFT's have been in normal range except my AST is higher than my ALT (AST 17 ALT 14 numbers stay very close to those numbers). Ultrasound looks great, endoscopy/colonoscopy fine.

Doctors/specialist say that I am OK!! NO Chance of HCV infection with all my testing.  No one seems to be worried about whats going on.  What do you guys think???  Any answers would help a great deal.
Thanks
J

[sfbaygirl]

It sounds like you are clear of Hep C! Congrats! The RNA Quant. test would have showed a viral load instead of a negative if you had Hep C. Good news!

Now sure what weak antibodies mean though.

[jay1975]

Thanks sfbaygirl, Doc's said that "weakly positive" in my case was a false positive antibody test.

[Kalio1]

It is very rare to "catch" Hep C through sex, there is a less than 3% chance of sexual transmission unless you are participating in sex that involves exchanging of blood. It is a blood borne disease.

You have been tested many times and are negative. Having unprotected sex puts you at risk for many things that are much more likely for you to catch than Hep C. I hope this taught you to use protection in the future. Hep C is NOT an STD however Hep B is. I hope you were tested for all the STD's you exposed yourself to, your chances of contracting an STD from unprotected sex are much higher than the chance of you contracting Hep C.

[jay1975]

You are correct.  I was very stupid and foolish, I wasnt thinking and I brought this appon myself.  I have been tested for other STD's as well (HIV1&2, all Heps, ect), all test have been negative out to 2 years.

[Kalio1]

Great to hear you tested clean! We all do things in life we regret, We learn through our mistakes. hopefully! If this scare makes you not take the same risk in the future, the lesson was worth it.

Good luck to you.

[Pdilly]

My next door neighbor had HepC (he thinks he got it in the 70's when they went down the line giving shots in the Army).  He had a transplant and he looks to be pretty good.  he just passed his 2 year anniversary of that.  Now his wife has tested positive for HepC as well.   She has taken a leave from work for the duration of treatment.  I guess most of us can count our lucky stars that our husbands (or wives and children) have not gotten it.  Their daughter and grandson test fine.

[APKhaos]

It can be a lot simpler to become infected that I ever thought.

We had a kinda funny thing happen here this AM, with my wife and daughter kidding each other about 'borrowing' stuff from their respective bathrooms. Rebecca is almost 20, a senior in college, etc. For some reason, this stoked a storm in my mind. We say down and had a long talk about the risks of sharing razors, toothbrushes, etc. She was staggered at the risk of infection with STDs, Heps, HIV, etc.

Glad we had that talk today.

Great to hear that you dodged the bullet, Jay. Its a scary business, no doubt.