Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

Positive for Hepatitis B core antibody. Negative for Suface Antigen. False Positive?

We had our baby 3 weeks ago and we decided to do the ViaCord cord blood banking. After delivery they took several vials of blood from my wife and the umbilical cord for the banking / testing. About 2 weeks after we got a notice saying that they needed more blood as there wasn't enough to complete all the tests. One of the tests being Hepatitis B Virus Core Antigen and Hepatitis B Surface Antigen. Amoungst other things. We recieved a letter today from ViaCord saying that her blood tested positivly for Hepatits B Core Antibody but Negatively for Hepatitis B Surface Antigen. They continued to saw that the combination of resuls may mean you have been exposed to hepatits B some time in the past or there is a possiblility the test result showed a false positive. Then says the surface antigen test being negative is a better indication that you're not infected. Needless to say my wife is freaking out that she gave it to the baby. Anyone else have similiar experiences? Just to add, we both had the vaccinations as children and my wife was negative for the test prescreening for the pregnancy. We unfortunately didn't get the vaccination at the hospital for our son and was going to wait for the peditrician to give it to him at 1 month.

Public Comments

1. You would have to wait for the rest of the tests to know for sure, but if your wife had hep B vaccination as a child, and now tests postive for core antibody and negative for surface antigen, the most likely scenario is that she had (and cleared) hepatitis B infection BEFORE she had the vaccination as a child. This past resolved infection would not be picked up on the prescreening if they only checked for surface antigen, and not core antibody, which is often what happens. It's actually quite common for people to find out they had hep B in the past on routine core antibody screening. The important thing is that she doesn't still have it (the surface antigen is negative). The only concern for your baby would be if your wife's hep B infection actually came and went during the pregnancy, rather than in the distant past. While theoretically possible, this is very unlikely given that you've both been vaccinated, and she was negative for surface antigen at the start and the end of the pregnancy. It's much more likely she's had hep B core antibody all along as a result of a resolved infection in the distant past, and this is the first time anyone has tested for it. Your wife's parents should get checked. If a person gets hep B as a very young child, chances are there's a family member with a chronic hep B infection.