Anti HCV false positive

[sumitleo]

Dear All,
I was diagnosed with Anti HCV reactive during my medical test for VISA. cutoff was 1.29. my doctor recommended me to go for HCV RNA test to verify that virus is currently active in the body or not. result was in my favor and i got " Virus not detected". to be sure i went for further test like liver function test, ultrasound and Fibro scan to be sure that this is not chronic. after 1.5 month i went again for the test and i got cutoff as 1.40. i do have below question where i need your exper advice.

is this normal to have variation in the cut off ratio or there are any issues.
is there any way to remove antibodies from blood, as >1 value is creating problem for my VISA.

Regards,
Sam

[AWorriedMom]

Yes, the s/co varies. To my knowledge there is no vaccination to take away the antibodies. They are likely there for life.

[dontworry_behappy1]

No.  You can't remove the antibodies.  You will have them for the rest of your
life.  I have never heard of a vaccination that will remove antibodies.  

Also, Its never known when you have been infected with Hepatitis C when you have Hep C antibodies.   So having the Hep C antibodies subjects you to providing current test results (HCV RNA PCR) on request.  So if questioned you may have to go get new test results.

Hope this helps.  

[sumitleo]

One more question. is there any way to remove anitibodies. one of the doctor said that now a days there are some vaccination which can get this done but those are expensive. do you have any idea about that.

Regards,
Sam

[sumitleo]

thanks for your response, I will try carrying my RNA report for visa if that helps. during my last test i saw 1.24 as cut off. does that vary always?

Regards,
Sam

[flyinlynn]

Having a positive antibody test means you were exposed to the virus at some point but your immune system was able to fight it off on its own about 25 % of people are able to do that.

However once you have been exposed to the virus and have antibodies you will always test positive for the rest of your life. Antibodies are produced by your body when it it trying to fight off a virus they are produced by your bodies immune system.

[AWorriedMom]

The signal to cutoff ratio is different for all of the various antibody tests. And it can vary. If you have a copy of the results, you can look up that particular test and see what the ratio must be to predict a true positive. However, since you already had an HCV/RNA test that was undetected, that is the important thing here. There is nothing that will take the antibodies away. I know it can cause problems for a visa, for blood donation, etc. I don't know if the people who provide the visa's would be willing to use your PCR test or not. Hopefully, if you bring documentation of that undetected test, that will be enough evidence that you can get a visa. Wishing you good luck.