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Suggest Treatment For Chronic Hepatitis C Infection

Posted on Tue, 17 Mar 2015

Question: if you have chronic hepatitis c can the test come up indeterminate and what does indeterminate mean

Answered by Dr. Mohammed Taher Ali (13 minutes later)

Indeterminate result: This is when the result is not clearly negative or positive.
There are three possibilities:

The person is in the process of becoming Hepatitis C antibody positive
False result due to presence of other diseases.
Losing the antibody

Get the PCR tests (Polymerase Chain Reaction) for confirmation of diagnosis.
Reply with thanks.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Mohammed Taher Ali (7 minutes later)

what diseases would throw off the test

Answered by Dr. Mohammed Taher Ali (8 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Autoimmune diseases and certain blood disorders.

Detailed Answer:

I appreciate your concern towards the Indeterminate result of Hepatitis C virus.

Patients with auto immune diseases like Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, myasthenia gravis, etc and blood disorders like hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenic purpura show the antibodies against the hepatitis C virus.
This is due to cross reactivity which results in False positive result, that means even though they are not infected with Hepatitis C virus but yet antibodies are found.

I hope your doubts have been clarified.

Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E