Hepatitis B serology
shakes fist my nemesis.... along with 80% of these notes
Interpreting hepatitis B serology is a dying art form which still occurs at regular intervals in medical exams. - Passmed
HBsAg (surface antigen)
- 1st to appear
- acute disease
- if present after 6 months, considered chronic infection
- what's in the vaccine
Anti-HBsAg = antibody that forms after exposure to HbsAg
- immunity, from either exposure or immunisation
- absent in chronic infection
Anti-HBc = only if you caught it... organically
- IgM anti-HBc = it's a recent thing (acute or recent infection)
- IgG anti-HBc persists
HBeAg = marker of breakdown of HBc from liver cells = marker of infectivity