Hepatitis testing Flashcards
1
Q
What are ground-glass hepatocytes?
What are they suggestive of?
A
- Ground-glass hepatocytes can be seen on light microscopy as hepatocytes with flat, hazy and uniformly dull appearing cytoplasms
*This is thought to be because of the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) inside the endoplasmic reticulum.
- They point towards a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B infection and are not present in acute infection
2
Q
What does surface antigen (HbsAg) mean?
A
HbsAg (surface antigen) → active infection
3
Q
What does E antigen (HBeAg) mean?
A
HBeAg (E antigen) → marker for viral replication (high infectivity)
4
Q
What do core antibodies (HBcAb) mean?
A
HBcAb (core antibodies) → past or current infection
5
Q
What does surface antibody (HBsAb) mean?
A
Surface antibody (HBsAb) → vaccination or past or current infection
6
Q
What does Hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV DNA) mean?
A
HBV DNA → direct count of viral load
