Good morning,
I was hoping that the community might be able to give me some additional knowledge regarding my condition. I'm 34 years old, Korean (I was adopted, I never knew my birth mother nor did I have any medical records when I came to the USA in 1975 as an infant), and was diagnosed in March 2010 with chronic HBV. I have been extremely healthy my entire life as an endurance athlete, and was only diagnosed because I donated blood for the first time. This entire series of events from then until now has been very difficult emotionally. Initially, through test results that I'll share below, I was diagnosed as an inactive carrier. However, at my first 6 month check up my viral DNA count has increased significantly which makes me believe that I have a mutated strain of HBV. I do not know this for sure as I have never been tested for this or for my genotype. Below are my test results and following that are some questions I have, any insight you could offer is very much appreciated.
Initial test results - these were the first I ever received in March 2010:
HBV Viral DNA - 2502 IU/ML
HBV DNA Copies/ML - 14562
My gastroenterologist then ordered a second confirmatory test with a liver function panel in April 2010, these are the results:
AST - 29
ALT - 23
HBV Viral DNA - 2502 IU/ML
HBV DNA Copies/ML - 14562
I tested as e-antigen negative, e-antigen antibody positive
I also had a liver biopsy in May 2010 that revealed a grade of 0-1 with stage 0 fibrosis, so that was good. Diagnosis then was that I was an inactive carrier.
Now, on October 1, 2010, I had a 6 month follow up, those results are:
AST - 29
ALT - 25
HBV Viral DNA - 28355 IU/ML
HBV DNA Copies/ML - 165026
So I had large increase in my viral load. My doctor wants to retest in Dec 2010, if there is no improvement she wants to start me on oral anti-virals. So my questions are:
1. Do inactive carriers' DNA levels fluctuate? How much and how often?
2. Seeing as though I've had a fairly dramatic increase from April 2010 to Oct 2010 does this indicate that in fact I am not an inactive carrier?
3. If #2 is true, then that would automatically mean I have a mutant strain that can replicate despite my e-antigen negative status.
This is all very scary to me. One other thing that I should add which might sound strange, but for the past month (Sept 2010 to Oct 2010) I have gotten several very painful subaceous acne-like cysts below the surface of my skin. I have never gotten these before, but I have gotten very minor acne in the past (like one pimple at a time very few and far between) when my immune system was depressed, as in right before I got a cold, for example. Is it possible that my immune system has been under attack or trying to react to the replication of the virus and hence cannot as adequately control other things in my body (like these acne cysts)? These are now gone and I have had no other symptoms. Just a thought, maybe it's completely not related at all.
Please add your input to my questions or relate your own experience and wisdom, HBV has caught me totally by surprise, it's been very disconcerting especially in light of recent developments.