SVR - Does that mean I still have HCV? What do I say when people ask?

OK - check it out - as posted, my hepatologist advised I'm no longer his patient. He said "You're cured" You're SVR.

OK - rock the hell on with that noise.

But...

What does it mean?

Do I still have Hepatitis C?

If people ask - does that mean I'm HepC free?

Am I contagious any longer?

I know it means something damn good...

But what ---- really ---- does it mean?

Thanks guys,

Meki

[desrt]

It means the chances of your disease progressing are only a teeny, tiny fraction of what they would have been if you hadn't sustained a response - and that it's probably safe to share your toothbrush.

Congratulations on being 'fired' as a patient!

[meki]

Oooh I dunno about Hubby sharing toothbrush... Ick mouth he has... LMAO!

[GrandmaA]

Viruses never completely go away. They are either active or dormant. SVR means it is dormant.  I do not believe you are contagious. It's like the chicken pox virus you had as a little kid. It can come back as shingles when you are stressed or older. Congratulations! That is the BEST news.

[zazza]

What you say is true about some viruses, for example the herpes virus which will stay inactive inside your body most of the time, and then when you are weaker you will get an outburst of herpes because your immune system cannot keep the herpes virus at bay. Such a herpes outburst might be initiated by illness, sun or period.

This is not true about the hepatitis C virus. If you have something that backs up your statement, I think you should give us the link. I have not read anything anywhere that backs up what you say.

SVR means sustained viral response. In studies of people with SVR for several years less than 1% showed signs of relapse or reinfection. Antibodies that show we have been exposed to the hep C virus at one point in our life will of course stay with us the rest of our life. But this is not the same as being contagious. That is why we do not check for antibodies once we know we have hep C, we check for viral load.

SVR is as close to a cure as we will get. Less than 1% risk is small enough for me!

[zazza]

My answer if I recieve SVR would be "No, I do not have HCV. I am not contagious. I am Hep C free!"

[meki]

I don't know the answers on this part...

But I'm going to say that YEAH!!! I think I'm HEPC Free - but I will always be a HEPC carrier --- not a contagious carrier - but one all the same.

But that's only my conjecture...

IF ANYONE can answer this --- PLEASE... Show me any facts, proof literature - anything.

I want to be free enough to say I don't have HepC anymore.

Thanks again for everyone's comments

[R Glass]

I have all ways been under the assumption that, if you can maintain a strong immune system and a strong liver, the odds would be in your favor fighting Hep C. I know, there is no natural cure for Hep C. Now I am confused. Does anyone else have an opinion on this issue?

[cruelworld]

some doctors speculate that if you ever had hcv and cleared it, you could still be a carrier of sorts. its pure speculation at this point, absolutely no proof. the practical reality says
that if you are UND <5, you dont have it and cant spread it. i have been und for only 9 weeks at week 27 and consider myself free of the disease. i must be careful because it can pop back up unexpectedly and if this happened i could
spread the disease. i will have to wait a few years finish and see if it sticks.
at this point i will feel no obligation to mention diseases that ive defeated
and are gone for good.

[meki]

How about to Dentists - significant others - bedtime partners - Doctors/Phlebotomists, etc?

[zazza]

Certainly not to bedtime partners or significant others. I don't think you need to mention it to doctors and dentists once you have received SVR since they should treat every patient as if they had a contagious disease anyway, throw away all sharp needles safely and such.

However, once you have contracted the hepatitis C virus and thus have antibodies for it, you are never allowed to donate blood or organs, even if you receive SVR. This is of course to be on the safe side.

My suggestion is (and it would be anyway) don't ever share needles with anyone, use your own razor and toothbrush, other than that live a normal life and forget about hepatitis C!

[mustangshelly]

No your no longer active, you don't need to tell anyone anyway....you had hcv and are now no longer active. best wishes,:)shelly

[meki]

Thanks Guys, again. Very heartening.

[wyntre9]

zazaa!

i have been thinking about you!  How's it going?

Thanks all for the discussion of whether or not one is still considered 'sick' after reaching SVR.

But, I'm a little dense, as you all know, is THAT ALSO true once you reach UND as LONG AS YOU DON'T RELAPSE?

I DON'T QUITE UNDERSTAND THAT PART.

i MEAN, I'M ON WEEK 27 OF 72 AND I AM und NOW BUT I STILL HAVE TO TREAT FOR ALMOST ANOTHER YEAR.

CAN ANYONE GIVE ME THE REALLY EASY VERSION? *LOL*

wyntre

[debnevada]

to say to those who ask....


"why you gotta get up in my KoolAid?"

[FlGuy]

'bedtime partners - Doctors/Phlebotomists' No wonder the doc said you are no longer his patient.  It would be unethical to have that kind of relationship with a patient.  You might be able to get away with seeing the phlebotomist - they are less bound by ethical standards.

[zazza]

Hey! I am doing fine! Shot 34 today - almost halfway! I read your posts about your high hemoglobolin and high altitude - could very well be a correlation there. Nice to see you are getting settled in your new place.

This is my take on UND. I think you go UND when the virus is gone (or almost gone) from your blood. Then you still have the virus in your liver cells to get rid off. If you are not a rapid responder I think you have to wait for the liver cells' natural process of replacing themselves, which takes between 300 - 500 days.

So being UND is not the same as not being contagious. The treatment is just keeping the virus at bay. We have to get every one of those viruses out of our body, or we will relapse when the treatment stops.

Hope you see this post! And keep at it killing those viruses!

[l-horn]

Tell 'em you have ebola or tuberculosis but you're only moderately infectious.

Then cough.

[Forseegood]

sounds like it's "all good" to me!

[wyntre9]

I'm STILL recovering from the move, za, but i will reconnect soon!

SO, being UND means you're INFECTED but NOT contagious?

is that it?  (you know what a dunce i can be.  *LOL*)

wyntre

[FlGuy]

My prior comment somewhere was something to the effect that the typical definition of svr was virus undetected at 6 montsh (24 weeks) post tx.  This is the definition that is continually report in trials and studies and is the definition that two liver docs provided to me.  But the correlation to results at 3 to the results at 6 are a very high percentage.

[ladybug52]

:) You're a funny guy. That quote took on new meaning and I was checking on if you thought 3 month pcr qualifies as SVR. Does it depednd on the dr txing or do we all have to go by the 6 month standard?

[zazza]

Being UND unfortunately means that you have to consider yourself both infected and contagious. Not until the virus has left your body are you not contagious. If you do 72 weeks of treatment, getting UND at week 18 would mean that you are UND for 54 weeks. If you receive SVR at 3 and 6 months post tx, you can consider yourself not contagious and never need to mention this disease to anyone again.

But... when did you actually become not contagious? There is no way to know. There are no tests available that show if the virus has already left your body while you still are on treatment. So you might have become not contagious at week 40 or 50 or 63 or 71, who knows? Therefore, UND must be considered being contagious and infected until an SVR proves differently.

Understand, friend?

In some rare cases virus has been found in the liver after SVR although there is no virus detectable in the blood stream. So just to be on the safe side I think we should not share needles (as if we would anyway), razors or toothbrushes with anybody even after receiving SVR. And hey, who knows that the other person does not have an infectious disease that we could get if we shared these utensils with them?

[wyntre9]

I am sooo glad I asked and I'm even happier that you responded!

Yes, I think I get it now.  I was confused about some of the recent discussions of this issue.  (so what else is new? *LOL*)

Ok, so you should consider yourself infected and contagious until post TX SVR, right?

And that means notifying doctors, dentists, lab workers, etc.

Luckily, I don't share toothbrushes and razors with the flock!  They don't have teeth and they don't shave!  hahahaha

wyntre
I understand what you mean

[zazza]

Hahaha! :)