Dear Doctor Barbara, Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and answer mine and other patients questions. I am heb B + with antigen + and antiobody - for about 8 years since I was formally diagnosed. I am not sure when I acquired the disease, therefore it could be many more years before I was actually diagnosed. I have been under the monitoring phase whereby I go see my Gastrointerologist once a year for lab and sonogram. This year, in May my Viral load skyrocketed to 3 millions copies, while everything else was normal. Therefore my doctor decided to put me on treatment using viread. My viral load droped to undetectable in the first three months of taking the medication. My questions are (1) How long to take the med for? (2) What to look for labwise inorder to discontinue viread? (3) generalary, i just wanna know the end point if there is any.......or just life long treatment. Thanks.

Good questions.

First of all congratulations on suppression of your virus. I would follow your E antigen every three months to see if you seroconvert (eg, lose e antigen, gain e antibody).

Once that happens, I would treat for about 6 to 12 more months to be certain that you hold onto that great result.