theoretical question

[charles9]

Hi,

theoretically if I got Hepatitis B seven years ago. Now I have been tested for hepatitis and the test was allright, so I can donate blood.

Does it mean I have never had Hep. B or C? Do antibodies (anti-HBs or anti-HBc IgM) of Hep B persist for whole lifetime?

My point is, I have girlfriend for 7 years and she is not blood donor and hasn't been tested for Hepatitis. Is it possible that I theoretically got hepatitis from sexual intercourse with another woman before my girlfriend, then I infected my gf shortly after we started dating, then I cleared the virus, then I lose all my antibodies, so theoretically my girlfriend still can be infected with Hepatitis now?

[charles9]

Thank you KjFlicka for your reply. Especially I wanted to know if some antibodies persist forever after infection. Because I've read somewhere on the internet that anti-HBc "usually" persist for life. The word "usually" made me confused. Somewhere was also written that in some cases, total anti-HBc titers may fall into the undetectable range along with total anti-HBs.

[KjFlicka]

From what I understand, if you got the virus 7 years ago at the same time you were sexual with your girlfriend, then you both could have gotten it because usually it's 'active' for a few weeks at least. If the virus 'cleared' as you said, you will still have the antibodies forever (and you cannot get the virus again) and will not be eligible to be a blood donor because of this. To answer your question, though, if your girlfriend has never gotten it, she won't/can't get it from you now... only could have when it was 'active' 7 years ago.