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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Remedy And Precautions For Hepatitis B

Hello Sir,
I donated blood on 26 January, they told me i have Hepatitis B. On doctor's advise I have gone thorough multiple blood tests also one ultrasonic test. All reports were negative except for Hepatitis B surface antigen. All those test were done in March 2011, in August again I gone for Hepatitis B surface antigen test and report says "Reactive". Do I need to take some precautions, medications etc. I am perfectly normal, I mean i don't have any symptoms. What should I do now. I am Pune so it will be great for me if you can suggest me a doctor in Pune.
Thu, 25 Jun 2015
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Hello and welcome to HCM!
To summarize it briefly: you are amongst those persons who, when contacting hepatitis B virus, cannot get rid of it. Almost 10-15% of all persons contacting hepatitis B virus can not eradicate it and become the so-called "a Hepatitis B carrier". There are two types of hepatitis B chronic carriers: active carrier and passive carrier. An active carrier is a person infected with hepatitis B and that shows signs and symptoms of the disease. A passive carrier is a person who has the disease in its body but it doesn't manifest any signs and/or symptoms. Since you report that you did several test back in 2011, and you are feeling perfectly healthy, then I guess that you are a passive carrier of hepatitis B and probably you will continue to have this status for the rest of your life if you do not engage in excessive unhealthy behaviors such excessive alcohol intake, etc. Unfortunately, there is no ultimate cure for chronic B hepatitis. You can try with interferon therapy, but this is expensive and in a good proportion of cases it can only achieve a lowering of the titer of HBsAg surface antigen without eradicating it. On the other hand, treatment of hepatitis B with interferon or other anti-viral drugs is advised only if there are signs of liver damage but this is not your case. Vaccinating against hepatitis B at this stage is of little benefit as well, even though it is not harmful.
However, please not that you can pass the infection to other people through unprotected sexual intercourse or if your blood comes in contact to that of other people. Therefore, you can not donate blood anymore.
Therefore, my advice would be: do not engage in unhealthy behaviors such as excessive alcohol intake, in order to not "wake-up" the silent disease. If you are careful then you can live a perfectly healthy life.
Lastly, carriers of hepatitis B need to measure the levels of liver enzymes such as ALT and AST periodically in order to monitor its function.
I hope I have answered your concern! Best!
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Suggest Remedy And Precautions For Hepatitis B

Hello and welcome to HCM! To summarize it briefly: you are amongst those persons who, when contacting hepatitis B virus, cannot get rid of it. Almost 10-15% of all persons contacting hepatitis B virus can not eradicate it and become the so-called a Hepatitis B carrier . There are two types of hepatitis B chronic carriers: active carrier and passive carrier. An active carrier is a person infected with hepatitis B and that shows signs and symptoms of the disease. A passive carrier is a person who has the disease in its body but it doesn t manifest any signs and/or symptoms. Since you report that you did several test back in 2011, and you are feeling perfectly healthy, then I guess that you are a passive carrier of hepatitis B and probably you will continue to have this status for the rest of your life if you do not engage in excessive unhealthy behaviors such excessive alcohol intake, etc. Unfortunately, there is no ultimate cure for chronic B hepatitis. You can try with interferon therapy, but this is expensive and in a good proportion of cases it can only achieve a lowering of the titer of HBsAg surface antigen without eradicating it. On the other hand, treatment of hepatitis B with interferon or other anti-viral drugs is advised only if there are signs of liver damage but this is not your case. Vaccinating against hepatitis B at this stage is of little benefit as well, even though it is not harmful. However, please not that you can pass the infection to other people through unprotected sexual intercourse or if your blood comes in contact to that of other people. Therefore, you can not donate blood anymore. Therefore, my advice would be: do not engage in unhealthy behaviors such as excessive alcohol intake, in order to not wake-up the silent disease. If you are careful then you can live a perfectly healthy life. Lastly, carriers of hepatitis B need to measure the levels of liver enzymes such as ALT and AST periodically in order to monitor its function. I hope I have answered your concern! Best!