How to understand a negative hepatitis B test?

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Thi Nhat - Infectious Disease Specialist - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.

In our country, the rate of people infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) accounts for a very high rate, about 10-15 million people. Currently, there is no drug to cure hepatitis B completely. The highest goal of treatment is to bring the virus-related tests to negative status, maintaining a normal life for the patient.

1.1 Negative HbsAg (-) HbsAg is a diagnostic test for hepatitis B, positive means you have been infected with hepatitis B. And negative HbsAg (-) result means you are not infected. hepatitis B .
But there are still many cases of false negative results due to many reasons such as technical errors or the use of low-sensitivity tests, so it is not possible to detect patients with low levels of hepatitis B.
1.2 HBV-DNA (-) negative This is a method to screen for virus at a certain threshold. A negative HBV-DNA test result means that the test cannot see the hepatitis B virus in the body. This is a good phenomenon for acute hepatitis B, but for chronic patients, it can only show that the amount of virus in the body is not much.
A negative quantitative HBV-DNA result also reflects a good progress in treatment because this indicator indicates that the transmissibility of the virus has decreased. But this does not mean that the virus has been completely eradicated, but just dropped below the lowest detection threshold.
Therefore, the goal of disease treatment is not only in the quantitative index of HBV-DNA but also in the HbsAg index. Patients now need to monitor their health to continue or stop treatment according to the doctor's instructions, because if the virus recurs, the treatment will be very difficult.
HBeAg negative : This is a test to control the activity of the virus that is replicating or inactive. no longer able to infect others.

But there are many cases, the virus is just in the dormant phase and does not attack liver cells. However, people around should be vaccinated against hepatitis B to avoid infection. In addition, a negative HBeAg can help identify the following possibilities: The virus has been completely eliminated from the body, the virus has ceased to function or mutated.
When HbsAg (-) turns negative, this is also said to be the highest goal achieved in disease treatment, because at this time the patient may have recovered his health and stopped taking medication. However, despite the negative treatment, because the patient has not yet appeared antibodies, the virus cannot be completely eliminated and can reactivate at any time.
Therefore, even though patients with hepatitis B have been treated negative, the doctor still advises them to have regular check-ups and build a healthy lifestyle, eat and rest properly, especially eliminating the factors that cause disease. damage to prevent liver damage and weakness to prevent B virus from having a chance to resurgence.

In fact, the majority of people who are infected with hepatitis B virus at sleep have subjective psychology. Maintaining eating habits is not as beneficial as eating greasy foods; use beer, wine; If you are lazy to check your health regularly... you may face the risk of a strong reactivation of the virus, causing damage to the liver.
Hepatitis B is a complicated disease that changes over time, without obvious symptoms and when the liver is damaged, there is a risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Therefore, healthy people who carry the virus or people with chronic viral hepatitis still need to take preventive measures to prevent the virus from becoming active again.
Healthy people carrying HBV are temporarily inactive, do not affect liver function, do not need to be treated with any drugs. Currently, western medicine only has the effect of inhibiting the massive growth of HBV with acute and chronic hepatitis B.
Therefore, maintaining good health to prevent an outbreak of the hepatitis B virus requires virus carriers to be very attentive, not subjective. The first is to keep good health, strengthen the resistance, not to let the virus have a chance to multiply. Absolutely abstain from alcohol and alcoholic beverages; Don't smoke, and limit animal fat. Participate in sports such as: aerobics, walking, swimming or playing badminton.
To prevent infection for relatives and the community, people carrying the virus when having sex should use condoms, do not donate blood, do not share tools such as razors, needles, etc.
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It is advisable to check your health and do HBV-related periodic tests every six months such as: HBsAg, HBeAg, HBVDNA and liver enzyme tests to be closely monitored for HBV reactivation. In addition to western medicine, it is also very helpful for patients to find ways to support the treatment of hepatitis B from herbs.
For people with active hepatitis B, it takes 3-6 months, depending on the condition or as prescribed by the doctor. Support for early improvement and good control of chronic hepatitis B will help minimize damage to the liver, and help prevent the risk of progression to cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Hepatitis B is transmitted through blood, sex and from mother to child. We now have an effective vaccine against this disease. Therefore, the first and most important thing to do to reduce the harm of hepatitis B to each person is to get vaccinated. Especially vaccination right away, enough for people living around the sick person. Doing well in vaccination is the way to control this disease without increasing the number of infected people.
Master. Doctor. Nguyen Thi Nhat has more than 10 years of experience in the field of artificial kidney, and in the field of infectious diseases, examination and management of patients with kidney disease and infectious diseases. Currently working as a Doctor of Infectious Diseases, Department of General Internal Medicine, Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital