Hepatitis SA

End-of-year closure
The Hepatitis SA Hackney office and NSP will be closed from 3pm 24 December and will reopen at 9am 2 January.

NSP access over Christmas and New Year

Hepatitis B Testing

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To know if you are immune or if you have a current hepatitis B infection, or which stage your chronic hepatitis B is at, you will need to have a blood test done.

For people unfamiliar with hepatitis B tests, the results might seem complex.Initial tests look for three markers, hepatitis B surface antigens, hepatitis B surface antibodies and hepatitis B core antibodies. Different combinations of results of the these markers indicate different things. See these information sheets — available in English, Chinese and Vietnamese — for simple explanations.

 

Below is a summary of hepatitis B tests from SA Health.

Test What a positive result means
Hepatitis B surface antigen
(HBsAg)
  • Shows that the person has hepatitis B.
  • It can be detected during acute and chronic infection.
Hepatitis B surface antibody
(HBsAb or anti-HBs)
  • Shows that the person has developed immunity to hepatitis B.
  • It can be detected in people who have recovered from acute hepatitis B or been vaccinated against it.
Hepatitis B e antigen
(HBeAg)
  • Shows that hepatitis B virus is multiplying, and that it can be more easily passed on.
Hepatitis B e antibody
(HBeAb or anti-HBe)
  • Shows that the person’s immune system has responded to hepatitis B and in some circumstances that the virus is not actively replicating.
Hepatitis B core antibody
(HBcAb or anti-HBc)
  • Shows that a person has had hepatitis B.
  • Could indicate past or present infection.
  • (If someone has immunity through vaccination they will not test positive.)
Hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV DNA)
  • Measures the amount of hepatitis B virus in the bloodstream and indicates how actively the virus is multiplying.

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Hepatitis SA

Kaurna Country
3 Hackney Road
Hackney, SA, 5069

(08) 8362 8443

Hepatitis SA acknowledges and respects the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the unceded ancestral land from which we work. We pay our respects to elders past and present.