File talk:Chronic HBV v2.png

HBeAg and HBc antibodies
Very nice figure. Is the timing of detection of HBeAg and HBcAb total meant to differ between this image and HBV_serum_markers.png? If true, this might suggest that the outcome could be predicted by tracking these. My sense is that this is not the case, and that early events should be nearly indistinguishable. These two figures are likely to be compared often, so it might help to make them more similar in appearance. I'd be happy to take a crack at it if you're busy.Scray (talk) 16:53, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Hi, Scray, your sense is correct, the early events are the same. My problem was twofold; 1. the timings are approximate because they vary from person to person, 2. I'm not v. good at graphics. I'd be more than happy for you to edit them.

With regard to HBV DNA, yes this would be useful, but only in the chronic carrier. It comes and goes as quickly, (if not quicker), as the IgM in acute-resolved infections. But this introduces a further complications in that the levels differ in eAg positive and eAg negative people. I'm not sure how to include this. Lastly, we would need a log10 scale for the numbers, the viral loads you see in HBV are much, much higher than with HIV infections. What do you think? Graham Colm Talk 17:11, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

HBV DNA quantitation
Now that HBV quantitation is a fairly routine test (and less complex to interpret than host responses), shouldn't it be included?Scray (talk) 16:53, 3 May 2008 (UTC)