A Blast From Step 1 "Hepatitis B Serology"

    Here is a quick cheat to determine what phase of  HBV infection your patient is in. Step 1; check the surface antigen. If it is positive, then the patient is either recovered or vaccinated. If there is nothing else positive, then he is vaccinated. If anything is positive (especially IgG), then he has recovered from a past infection). If the surface antigen is negative, then check the core antigen (it will be positive, but you need to know if it is IgG or IgM) If its it IgM positive, then you know it is an acute infection (just like when any disease is acute). If its IgG, then its chronic. Writing it out helps me remember it .