I was recently told a blood test came back with a borderline level indicator for hepatitis C, but 3 months ago I had a blood test and everything was fine.
Could the test be wrong?
How could I have contracted this? I don’t do drugs and have been exclusively with the same woman (my wife) for 7 years.
Can alcohol affect the test (I was drinking at a party the night before the test)?
If I DO have it, how screwed am I?
Do you know which test you had?
Blood tests for liver inflammation per se are useless to diagnose Hep C.
The usual diagnostic test for Hep C is an antibody level. Is that what you had done? This test may be falsely positive.
The definitive test for Hep C is to actually detect the Hep C virus, and not simply the antibody against it, in the blood (by PCR testing). I would say that that test is diagnostic if positive.
So, it depends on what test you had.
QtM is an expert on this and I’m sure he’ll be by shortly.
The nurse mentioned the antibody so I guess that’s what they tested for. I don’t believe they actually tested for the virus.
You can get Hep C from taking too much Tylenol. Hep B is the version you get from sex.
As the expert, let me say: “What KarlGauss said”.
Hep C is caused by the Hep C virus. The only way to get it is to be exposed to the blood of some person who has it.
It’s a very slow disease, and rarely makes a person sick at initial infection. It crops up years later, or is found incidentally. Our knowledge about it is still incomplete, but at this time it seems that about 4 out of 5 people do ok with the infection, and live relatively normal lifespans if they take care of themselves. (Caveat: Some specialists feel outcomes are much worse than this).
1 out of 5, however, get sick as all get-out, and succumb to the disease. Hep C is currently the leading reason for liver transplants in this country.
Treatment is generally offered to those with significant liver disease where the outcome looks like it will be bad. It consists of a mix of injections with interferon and oral doses of an antiviral. The course of treatment is generally 6 months to a year, and there is a 30% drop-out rate from treatment due to side-effects, so its nothing to be undertaken lightly.
The chief principle of staying healthy with a Hep C infection is to avoid alcohol. Mixing a liver which has Hep C with alcohol is like pouring gas on a smouldering fire. Tylenol, or APAP should generally be avoided too. But the important principle is really no alcohol.
As for your case
If only your liver enzymes were checked, but not your Hep C antibodies, don’t panic. Liver enzymes are up and down for a variety of reasons.
If your Hepatitis C antibody (EIA) is positive, don’t panic either. This indicates that your body was exposed to hepatitis C in the past and formed antibodies. This test is not infrequently known for false positives.
You can get a RIBA assay for the Hep C antibody to rule out a false positive, but frankly you could just request a Hep C PCR. This actually looks for the virus, and is unlikely to be positive unless you have the virus. If this test is negative (along with a follow-up recheck PCR in 6-12 months) then you either a) never had the infection, and the antibody test was a false positive, or b) you are one of the lucky 15% who had Hepatitis C and cleared it.
If you had a blood transfusion or received other blood products before 1992 (when it was discovered how to screen blood for hep C) you could have Hep C.
If you have ever used IV drugs with shared needles at any time in your life, you could have gotten it that way.
If you were ever exposed to a Hep C individual’s blood in significant amounts (greater than a few drops) and managed to get the blood on mucous tissue or in the eyes, or in a cut, you could have gotten it that way.
If you ever shared cocaine straws with another individual that is now considered a risk factor.
Tattoos where the needles (AND INK RESERVOIR!) are not properly cleaned are seen as possible ways of getting it.
It can also be transmitted thru sexual intercourse with an infected individual, but this happens far less frequently than initially feared by health experts.
Hope that helps. I’ve done all this from memory alone, so there’s probably some stuff I’ve omitted. But it should serve as a basic intro guide to Hep C.
WRONG WRONG WRONG. See above.
Thanks for the info!
I stand corrected, thanks for the info.
There is lots of information on Hepatitis C (HCV) here: http://www.hepcuk.info/data/usercontentroot/home/. I found it to be a very comprehensive and easy to read site.
A good American site is to be found here: http://hepatitis-central.com/. Finally, this site: http://hepcvets.com/ has an e-mail list which sends out fairly regular (and free) updates on current research into HCV. Hope this is of some help.
Don’t know if anyone cares, but I thought I’d share the good news.
The tests came back negative, I am not infected.
Now that I’ve had the crap scared out of me I have another reason to not do drugs or get a tatoo.
I care. Great news. Glad eveything worked out for you.
All I would say is that there are millions of us living with HCV, and it really doean’t have to be the end of the world.
Even so, I’m really glad that everything has worked out for you. Stay safe, my friend.
I used to be able to type!
Nice summary by the Doc, too.
I concur that the treatment is no picnic. I am in week 22 of the 48 week course. The side effects are brutal. It is easy to see why some people bail.
BTW, bad transfusion in 1978, diagnosed in 2002.
Mad Matt and pegleg thanks for the positive thoughts. I’ll be sending good vibes your way.
pegleg keep us up to date on your treatment if you don’t mind sharing.
Also I have to definitely agree, QtM is an unbelievable source of information on the boards, we’re fortunate to count him as a member. Thanks again QtM!