Does anyone else had trouble to get the hbsag count test done in the US?

[itac]

I live in California, and have Anthem Blue Cross HMO. Currently assigned to Regal Medical Group. It seems like they are contracted with a lab called Quest Diagnostics, that run all the blood test work.

I went to my PCP a week and a half ago to get the follow-up test for hep b, after having the initial test diagnosis.
I asked for hbsag count, hbv dna count, hbeag and hbeag antibody (I already got the rest). They took my blood and sent it to Quest.

Yesterday I finally got the full report of that test, and it only had hbv dna count in ui/ml, but there was nothing about hbsag count or hbeag/hbeag antibody. I called my PCP office, the nurse who took the blood said to call to Quest to clarify the results if I think something is missing. I wasted 2 hours on the phone with 3 different people from Quest Diagnostics, none of them knew what I was talking about (hbsag in ui/ml, hbeag, hbeag antibody). They say they couldn't find these tests on their list of tests they provide. How is it possible? I would think such basic tests should be available, but I guess it's not the case with Quest? Did anyone else had to run blood work with this lab and ran into similar issues?

I asked them to have a technical person or a medical director to call me back about the tests that I want that were not "available".

Other tests I asked them that about that they didn't have:
Hepatitis A IgG antibody (to see if I've been exposed to the virus), the only have the IgM once which only checks for a recent exposure, but it's pointless cause what if I want to get the vaccination and need to know if I don't have the virus already? Doesn't make any sense...

Another test I asked them about that my GI asked me to get at their lab was "Fibrosis blood test" which they also couldn't find in their list.

I also wanted them to test for Hepatitis D to see if I got a co-infection, they said they only have "Hepatitis D virus RNA qualitative PCR" test... Not sure if that's the one that test for it or is it something else?

I didn't even get to ask them about the hbv genotype test... which my guess they wouldn't have that as well...

I will wait for them call from them to get clarifications, but feel free to leave your comments if you had similar experience. Thanks!

[itac]

I just tried to call the first 3 numbers you gave...
The first number no one talks in english
second they said someone who talks english will be there on monday at 9am...
third one I spoke with some lady who said she spoke with the lab and they do the test... I think she said it costs 20-30pesos or something... not sure if she got the spelling correctly or not... I tried to get her to email me the information and she hung up lol...

Do you have the actual email addresses you used for english correspondence with them? It's gonna be hard to comminicate without some translator...

[stef2011]

Quality si the same everywhere as long as they have the abbott architect machine with automated kit for dilution, the problem is that many times the labs have the machines but biologists there know nothing about them, they press buttons but sometimes cannot understand correctly about automated dilution, manual dilution.if they make no dilution the results are useless because it says hbsag over >250iu/ml

it is also important to send blood correctly.years ago in italy they tested my sample for qualitative, then when i called them they maxe a mistake and that i could not go back they retested from the same sample left...the result was complitely wrong with hbsag concentration reported very high.

I shared these examples because it is best to get a biologist that knows about the test and machines very well and can suggest how to ship samples correctly

[jamesdc]

As I posted on May 15, the Guadalajara lab does not report in iu/ml.

I've given you all the information I have regarding what I know about the Abbott Labs in Mexico.

[itac]

"(52)3336690310
Guadalajara

As I stated before, Guadalajara does not report the result correctly. "

what do you mean by that? they don't give it in UI/mL?
Also, how can we know we can trust these labs and the accuracy of the tests and the quality of the blood when it's being shipped to them?

[jamesdc]

I found the response to my email I received from Abbott, Mexico:

We have some customer in the main cities of the country that they run this  test, I will  send you the information about where and which laboratories have available  this assay.

LABORATORY
TELEPHONE NUMBER
CITY
CLINICA DE MERIDA SA DE CV
52(999) 942-18-00
Merida
LABORATORIOS BIO-ANALISIS, S.C
(52)2223033100
Puebla
THE AMERICAN BRITISH COWDRAY
(52) 5552308121
Distrito Federal
UNIDAD DE SERVICIOS DE PATOLOGIA
(52)3336690310
Guadalajara

As I stated before, Guadalajara does not report the result correctly.

[itac]

Not sure which phone/email I should use in this link:

http://www.abbott.com/contact.html

Could please say which phone/email should I use to contact them? Specifically the lab who does the test, which you say is the one at Mexico City?

Thanks!