Hepatitis Bench: Serology and the Acetaminophen Trap

HBsAg — the virus is here, the patient is infectious right now. Anti-HBs — immunity, from vaccine or from a resolved infection. Anti-HBc — the patient met the wild virus at some point; a vaccine never produces it. That last one is what separates the vaccinated nurse from the nurse who was infected and recovered.

Nobody sets out to take eight grams. They take a prescription combination for pain, an over-the-counter product for a cold and something to help them sleep — and none of the three is labelled in a way that makes the shared ingredient obvious. Ask by product, not by ingredient: “what did you take for the headache, for the cold, for the sleep?”