HCV Test Result Negative After Three Months Of Exposure. Is This Test Reliable?

Posted on Sat, 2 Jun 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 2 Jun 2012 Answered on

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : i had and hcv test done after three months from exposure and it came back .1 negative but i am wondering why not just o.o and is this result more likely to go up on future tests

Answered by Dr. Ketan Vagholkar (22 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for the query.

Hepatitis C antibody tests are serological assays in which levels below cut off margin are considered false positive. So levels below reference range are not concerning; just like in your case.

Regarding the possibility of you becoming positive, the chance of it becoming positive without reexposure is negligible. So do not worry.

I hope this answers your query. Let me know if you have any other queries.

With regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad