My question is about the hepititis b test. I know that if someone gets this test and has positive surface antibodies and a neg. antigen that it is either because they have an acute infection OR have been successfully vaccinated. What if the person doesn't know if they are vaccinated or not? How would you know if you had an acute infection or a successful vaccination from these results. Please help. Thanks!
2007-03-11 06:25:20 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Infectious Diseases
You would need a core antibody test (anti-HBc) to distinguish between immunity from vaccination and immunity from past resolved infection.
If the core antibody test is negative then with the above results the immunity is from vaccination.
If it's positive the immunity is from past resolved infection.
By the way, surface antibodies aren't usually present DURING an acute infection - they develop as the acute infection resolves (and persist for many years afterward) or as a result of vaccination.
And you don't always know if you have an acute infection with hep B: about 50 per cent of people have only mild symptoms or no symptoms.
2007-03-11 14:46:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I basically agree with the responder above me but disagree as to who should have it. The hep B vaccine is a one time series of 3 injections over the course of 6 months. You would most likely know if you've been vaccinated. And you would most certainly know if you had acute infection!
It's recommended for everyone 18 years and younger (from birth) and all adults over 18 who are at risk. This includes those in the military, in the health care field, public safety, people who have more than one sex partner in 6 months, men who have sex with other men, people who inject illegal drugs, household contacts of people with chronic HBV and hemodialysis patients . Those who shouldn't have it are people with an allergy to baker's yeast. If you have doubts, you can be drawn for hep B titers to see if you have sufficient antibodies.
2007-03-11 15:51:46 · answer #2 · answered by TweetyBird 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you had had Hepatitis B, there is no way you wouldn't remember it...is makes you very ill, you become jaundiced (yellow) and sicker than you've ever been. As for were you ever vaccinated, the average person doesn't receieve Hep B vaccine, unless you have been in the healthcare field and they require that, or were in the military where they also require that. If you had been exposed to someone who had Hepatitis, they wouldn't have given you a vaccine...they would have given you Gamma GLobulin.
2007-03-11 15:30:27 · answer #3 · answered by bflogal77 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a nurse and you can have your blood drawn for a titer to see. Take care
2007-03-11 16:39:22 · answer #4 · answered by nursey 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋