{"id":4412,"date":"2021-09-15T14:43:48","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T02:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.awanuilabs.co.nz\/central\/wellington\/?page_id=4412"},"modified":"2025-05-05T14:08:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T02:08:55","slug":"hepatitis-b-virus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.awanuilabs.co.nz\/central\/wellington\/for-referrers\/microbiology\/how-do-i-diagnose\/hepatitis-b-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"Hepatitis B virus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Infection:<\/strong> &nbsp;Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-accordion ab-block-accordion\"><details><summary class=\"ab-accordion-title\">Brief description:<\/summary><div class=\"ab-accordion-text\">\n<ul>\n<li>Hepatitis B is now uncommonly acquired in NZ, mostly due to routine immunisation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>People born in countries where perinatal or childhood acquisition has still occurred more recently e.g. the Pacific, SE Asia have a higher likelihood of HBV infection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long-term active infection carries a risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-accordion ab-block-accordion\"><details><summary class=\"ab-accordion-title\">Did you know?<\/summary><div class=\"ab-accordion-text\">\n<ul>\n<li>HBV \u2018hides\u2019 its DNA in the nucleus of liver cells.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>People whose surface antigen becomes negative are often described as having \u2018past\u2019 or \u2018cleared\u2019 infection. However, this \u2018hidden\u2019 DNA persists in these people, meaning the infection can return if they become significantly immune compromised.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-accordion ab-block-accordion\"><details><summary class=\"ab-accordion-title\">Test of choice and who do I test?<\/summary><div class=\"ab-accordion-text\">\n<p>Request<strong> serology, <\/strong>but need to specify which from below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/scg.labapps.nz\/#\/WEL\/details\/26768\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hep B surface antigen<\/a> <\/strong>(<strong>sAg, HBsAg<\/strong>) demonstrates<strong> active replication <\/strong>of virus in the liver<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Request this to diagnose <strong>active infection<\/strong> e.g. investigation of deranged LFTs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The terms \u2018active\u2019 vs \u2018past\u2019\/\u2018cleared\u2019 relate to <strong>HBsAg being present or absent.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/scg.labapps.nz\/#\/WEL\/details\/27132\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hep B surface antibody<\/a> <\/strong>(<strong>anti-HBs<\/strong>,<strong> HBsAb<\/strong>) demonstrates <strong>immunity to HBV<\/strong> if the level is >10. This can be due to past infection or vaccination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Request this if <strong>demonstration of immunity<\/strong> is required e.g. pre-employment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>People who have <strong>ever had a level &gt;10<\/strong> are considered immune, even if the anti-HBs level <strong>wanes over time<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/scg.labapps.nz\/#\/WEL\/details\/27122\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hep B core antibody<\/a><\/strong> (<strong>anti-HBc<\/strong>,<strong> anti-core<\/strong>,<strong> HBcAb<\/strong>) demonstrates infection <strong>at some point<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Request this if need to know if <strong>have ever been infected<\/strong> e.g. before immune suppression<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If combined with:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>detectable HBsAg<\/strong> = current <strong>active<\/strong> infection<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>non-detectable HBsAg<\/strong> = \u2018<strong>past\u2019<\/strong>\/<strong>\u2019cleared\u2019<\/strong> infection<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/scg.labapps.nz\/#\/WEL\/details\/27126\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hep B core IgM antibody<\/a><\/strong> is a subset of core antibody and is produced in <strong>acute infection<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>e.g. investigation of patient with markedly deranged LFTs and positive HBsAg<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many labs will add this on automatically if new diagnosis of HBV and deranged LFTs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Specificity <\/strong>is only moderate<strong> <\/strong>&#8211; a positive test<strong> doesn\u2019t necessarily confirm acute HBV infection <\/strong>and can be due to other things.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-accordion ab-block-accordion\"><details><summary class=\"ab-accordion-title\">Tests to avoid\/specialist tests:<\/summary><div class=\"ab-accordion-text\">\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/scg.labapps.nz\/#\/WEL\/details\/2034\">HBV DNA<\/a> <\/strong>(<strong>HBV viral load<\/strong>,<strong> HBV PCR<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>This is used for monitoring of patients with known HBV infection and is not part of the standard initial diagnostic pathway for HBV.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-accordion ab-block-accordion\"><details><summary class=\"ab-accordion-title\">Other considerations:<\/summary><div class=\"ab-accordion-text\">\n<p>Acute hepatitis B&nbsp;is a notifiable disease.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/details><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Infection: &nbsp;Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"parent":4222,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-left-sidebar.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hepatitis B virus &#8211; 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