Hepatitis

[Teresa.smith]

I just found a copy of lab results from my boyfriend of 1 month.  It states that on 9-10-2003 he was reactive to Hep B Surface AB.  Can you please tell me what this means exactly? Is he contagious and should he be receiving treatment.  Should I be tested? All of his ofhter Hep tests were non reactive.  I want to learn more about this before I discuss it with him.
Thank You

[Teresa.smith]

Thanks for your comments everyone.  I have discussed it with him since this posting and he had Hep B as a child and was vacinnated but he didn't know if he was a carrier/contagious or not.  As for those that thought I was snooping around in his papers....I wasn't  He gave me his personal medical file last week to help him arrange some things for surgery he had yesterday.  I was looking for papers the hospital needed when I found this.  All is well.  I wish you all the best.
Teresa

[britgirl]

Hey, I hope you're not snooping around your boyfriend's private papers!! That would be naughty!

[RUNNINGWOLF]

Fret not!!!  I used to work in renal dialysis and we did these tests frequently......HBsAB  means that he was vaccinated for HBV,,,,if it had said HBsAg,,, that would mean that he actively had the disease...AB means you have an antibody to HBV or HAV
or what ever you have been vacinated against.  Wolf

[ts2010]

First of all, I am not a doctor so don't take my word as gospel but I believe that reactive to Hep B Surface AB means that your boyfriend was at one time or possibly still is infected with hepatitis B or possibly that he was vaccinated against hepatitis B.

The additional tests should tell whether or not he was or still is infected.  My advice would be to consult a doctor knowledeable with hep B testing and have them interpret his results.