This assay may be used in combination with other hepatitis B virus (HBV) marker assays to define the clinical status of known HBV infected patients or can be combined with other HBV, HAV (hepatitis A virus), and HCV (hepatitis C virus) assays for the diagnosis of patients presenting with symptoms of acute viral hepatitis.
A reactive anti-HBc IgM result does not exclude co-infection by another hepatitis virus.
Anti-HBc IgM increases rapidly, peaks during the acute infection stage of HBV infection, and then falls to a relatively low level as the patient recovers or becomes a chronic carrier. Anti-HBc IgM is useful in the diagnosis of acute HBV infection even when HBsAg concentrations are below the sensitivity of the diagnostic assay. The presence of anti-HBc IgM and anti-HBc IgG is characteristic of acute infection, while the presence of anti-HBc IgG without anti-HBc IgM is characteristic of chronic or recovered stages of HBV infection. The use of other viral markers such as HBsAg, anti-HBs, and anti-HBc total to differentiate acute from chronic hepatitis B is inconclusive because most of these markers are alsoseen in chronic infection.
Hep B Core Ab, IgM
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