Re: Weird hepatitis B test results

Robert1 wrote:

> The virus lives outside the body for a long time and household
> contacts are a prime source of exposure. I would concentrate
> on not so much how but who. Obviously the concern is a family
> member such as a parent, brother or sister who is a carrier or
> has chronic active hepatitis.

No likely family member comes to my mind, unfortunately. I can't be
100% sure of the health of all the roommates I've ever had, but none
of them were known at the time I lived with them to have hepatitis B
or be a carrier thereof.

I donated blood several times during the 1970's and early 1980's,
and I was never told during that time that my blood had failed any
screening tests. So, if I was in fact exposed to HBV, I assume it
would have to have been sometime between the early 1980's and 2001
(a period of time during which I just never got around to giving
blood, as best I can recall). That rules out childhood exposure.

My wife and I both had a bunch of tests done on us in 1992 for the
Canadian immigration department (we moved to Canada at the end of
1992). I don't know exactly what was tested for, but if the test
results had shown HBV exposure, I'm sure we would have been told.

I had endoscopic sinus surgery in 1992. I've read that HBV has been
known to be spread on occasion during surgical procedures, but if I
had been exposed in 1992, I assume it would have been too recent for
me to test as "distantly immune" in 2001.

I don't remember if the blood tests they did on my wife and me when
we applied for life insurance in the mid-1990's included hepatitis
B or not. All I remember is that they tested us for HIV (and we
both tested negative).

Very possibly, of course, this mystery may never get solved, though
I guess I'm a bit obsessed and would still like to get to the bottom
of it if possible.

> Prenatal hepatitis B antigen testing is mandatory and therefore
> your spouse would not be such a candidate for chronic carrier
> state . . . .

Just to be sure here, was such testing being done in the early 1990's
(when our children were born), and both in the US and Canada?

Rich Wales richw@xxxxxxxxx http://www.richw.org
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. My comments are for discussion pur-
poses only and are not intended to be relied upon as medical advice.

.

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