Why you might want to have a Hepatitis Test

Most people newly infected with HBV or HCV (Hepatitis B-C) have no symptoms or ones that are so mild that they rarely prompt a person to visit a doctor and get tested for HCV. However, about 10-20% of people may experience symptoms such as fatigue, pain in the abdominal area, decreased appetite, and jaundice and may be tested for HBV and HCV.

A positive anti-HBV-HCV test may be confirmed with an HVB, HCV RIBA test, especially when the anti-HVB-HCV test is "weakly positive." Many physicians do not use RIBA since it still does not determine if a person is currently infected. Quantitative HBV-HCV-RNA is often ordered when the antibody test is positive to see if the infection is still present. HBV-HCV (Hepatitis B-C) viral load and genotyping may be done when treatment is planned; viral load may be ordered periodically to monitor response to treatment and at the completion of treatment to evaluate its effectiveness.