I am 28 years old. When i was 17 i tried to donate blood to which i was sent a letter stating that i had tested "inconclusive for hep c" and to get more testing through my family dr. I did that and it came back neg. I have since had 2 more tests done that come back positive then after further testing come back negative. I was wondering if anyone else has had this experience, and if so do you know any reasons to which this happens? or what do i expect next? i have no idea how to handle this positive result this time because now i have 2 kids and im worried. i do know the risk to my kids is low but if i find out i gave it to them i would just want to die.

I have heard of false positives but never this many back & forth. Were all the tests done through the same lab ? If so I would be expecting some FREE lab work & pushing my doctor for a CORRECT diagnosis. Try another lab.

no they were all different labs, the first on comming from the blood bank testing site itself, then another through a family doctors office then a public health clinic and the newest from a new family doctor. the process here in canada is that the private labs do the testing first and then if it becomes positive they send everything to the main public health testing labs for further testing. no one seems to know why so many positive tests or "inconclusive tests"

I am 28 years old. When i was 17 i tried to donate blood to which i was sent a letter stating that i had tested "inconclusive for hep c" and to get more testing through my family dr. I did that and it came back neg. I have since had 2 more tests done that come back positive then after further testing come back negative. I was wondering if anyone else has had this experience, and if so do you know any reasons to which this happens? or what do i expect next? i have no idea how to handle this positive result this time because now i have 2 kids and im worried. i do know the risk to my kids is low but if i find out i gave it to them i would just want to die.

I did the same thing, gave blood and it came back as positive for HCV antibodies.....I went to the doctor and it was neg.
He told me having HVC antobodies does not mean you have HCV.
He told me to forget it.....and I did

Dear Shan002,

I had given blood back in '95 and rec'd "the letter" from the blood bank advising me that the anti-HCV test result on my blood was abnormal and meant I have have been exposed to Hep. C at some time. Since I'm a nurse, even though I really didn't think the letter was true, I followed up with a GI doc. I was positive per RIBA test and had an elevated viral load verified by the HCV RNA Quantitation blood test.
Specific testing for HCV, and if those tests are positive, a liver biopsy, to confirm any liver damage, are proven methods. Are you going to a GI doctor or a regular primary doctor? A GI and/or hepatologist will know the absolute right tests to order and help put your mind at ease.
Good luck and God Bless:angel:

Karen