What does it mean to have the hepatitis antibodies, but not the actuall hepititis disease?

my girlfriend and i were discussing this subject, she said that people can have the hepititis antibodies, but not the hepititis disease itself, she said that a human body could come in contact with a small amount of the virius, and the body will fight it off then make a note that it killed the virus, so that if the body comes in contact with another small amount of this virius, then the body will know that it fought it off before, and will have the antibodies to fight off this virus. does anyone know if this is true? im just having a hard time understanding this, i dont know how that could be true if a human body came in contact with a hepititis c virus, then how in the world could the body create antibodies for it and kill it off? whay wouldnt the person just get the virus? and i dont get how it could have an antibody and not the actually virius itself? sounds a little far fetched to me!

this is true
this is known as active natural immunity
let me explain ( in terms of a vaccination, which is known as bpassive natural immunity),
a vaccination is a mild/weakened/dead version of the virus, So a hepatitis c vaccination would consist of a mild/weakened/dead hepatitis c virus. Now, what happens is when this enters your blood stream, the immune system recognizes a stranger or foreign thing in your body. this foreign thing is known generally as an antigen (although an antigen is specifically the protein of the top of a virus, but u don't need to know that) Ok, so what happens is phagocytes ( a type of white blood cell that 'eats' antigens) come along (they are attracted by histamine released by damaged cells- these were damaged by the needle of the injection itself) and start gobbling up the antigen (which is in this instance hepatitis c) now, what happens is T cells identify the virus, by taking a sample of some of the coat that makes up the virus, it takes it around the body signalling all B cells ( another type of white blood cell) that there is a virus in your body. now, some B cells turn into memory B cells, and they store the way to make the antibody that will lock onto the virus and help destroy it. they get this information from the T cells that are carrying part of the virus. An antibody is like a key, and the antigen is a lock, only that key will fit that lock so the hepatitis c ANTIBDY will never fit any other type of virus. Anyway, the memory b cells stor the way to make the antibodies, while the rest turn into plasma cells which secrete antibodies made specifically for the virus, which in this case is hepatitis c virus. the T cells are still notifyng the body of the intrusion and alert some other types of t cells called killer T's. these destroy any infected cells in the body. so these cells swarm to the site and start working away at helping get rid of the virus.

So all these things are going on and the hepatitis c virus is destroyed. Now, the t cells that identified it will always be on the lookout for the hepatitis c virus, and the memory cells will only remember how to make the hepatitis b antibody and the killer t's will always be on the lookout for the hepatitis c too. So for each new disease we get, our body goes to huge lengths to prepare itself should another attack happen. Now, the body is ready to fight hepatitis much quicker than if it just got the actual disease ( which is much more alive/alert/aggressive than the vaccination) and had to make the antibodies and store the way to make them.

this is normally why you dont get chicken pox twice, because u r immune to it. Now in terms of just getting the disease, the body would still act the same way (histamine would still be released by any cells that the virus has damaged etc) but it would just take longer than the second time u caught the same virus. Simply because the body has to make, and store the way to make the antibodies, whereas the second time the immune system will be raring to go.

Sorry it was so lenghty, but i hope this helps!

Your body will make antibodies to viruses it encounters, but some viruses are not always fought off. HIV and Hepatitis C, to name two. In the case of Hepatitis C (HCV), your body will produce antibodies when it's been exposed, but in about 80% of the cases, the virus mutates and can't be fought off. That's why so many people have chronic HCV. The scary thing is people are often asymptomatic (no symptoms at all) for many, many years before they are diagnosed. The liver is a very tough organ and will take years of damage before that damage actually produces symptoms. In viruses that don't mutate, once your body creates the antibodies, then your immune system fights off the rest of the virus. In HIV and HCV, that doesn't happen most of the time. That's why its important to be tested for these diseases if you have had a risk factor.
The risk factors for HCV are:
blood transfusion or solid organ transplant before 1992, IV drug use even if only one time many years ago, tattoos, piercings, pnuematic vaccinations given by the military (especially Vietnam era vets), born to a mother with HCV, snorting drugs & sharing a straw or dollar bill, sharing a razor or toothbrush with someone who may have HCV even if they are not yet diagnosed, medical or dental procedures done with unsterilized equipment, exposure to blood through a job in the medical field (EMT's, paramedics, nurses, doctors, phlebotomists, etc), rough sex (where blood to blood contact has occured), MSM sex. HIV risk factors are similar, except add bodily fluids, so even "regular" sex is a risk factor, too.
Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Your friend is right! And has pretty much explained how vaccines work!

Antibodies are a very specific tag that specific immune cells possess to identify the same organism in future. Just remember that every time you are exposed to a bacteria or organism you don't necessarily mean you get the infection.

To get infected you need whats called an "infectious dose" (the minimum amount of bacteria or virus to become infected) otherwise your imune system sorts it out.

If you have Hep C antibodies you have most likely come into contact with the Hep C virus and your body has recognised it's bad and dealt with it before it can harm you. It then makes these antibodies so that it can recognise the Hep C if you come into contact with it in the future.

Chris- Registered Nurse