Celiacs False-positives For Other Things

[Saoirse]

Hi,

Have been newly diagnosed with celiac disease. I also had a false-positive result for Hepatitis C. Was

wondering if this is common with celiac diseas.

Saoirse

[Lisa]

Through Celiac blood screening and an endoscopy/biopsy testing Celiac Disease can be ruled in, but not ruled out. There are no false positives, only false negatives.

Welcome to the Club!

[Electra]

  Saoirse said:

Hi,

Have been newly diagnosed with celiac disease. I also had a false-positive result for Hepatitis C. Was

wondering if this is common with celiac diseas.

Saoirse

False positives are pretty much unheard of, but I'm sure it's happened before. I'm also sure that it's more then extremely rare, and that it's only happened with ignorant(meaning uninformed or uneducated) doctors.

[Saoirse]

  Momma Goose said:

Through Celiac blood screening and an endoscopy/biopsy testing Celiac Disease can be ruled in, but not ruled out. There are no false positives, only false negatives.

Welcome to the Club!

Hi Momma Goose,

Thanks for the welcome. I read that something like 35% of people who do not have hepatitis C will test positive on a screening for hep c. Some of those people its because they have autoimmune diseases. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that can affect the liver so I was just wondering

if anybody on the forum had that happen to them. Something to think about --especially if you give blood because they test for all sorts of things that can come up "false positive"

[Saoirse]

Hi again,

I have confused everyone. What I meant by previous post was has anyone on the forum gotten "false positive" results for other diseases because they have celiac disease. I have been told that people with autoimmune diseases like we do will test positive for diseases that they acutally do not have.

Saoirse

[Lisa]

https://www.celiac.com/articles/21501/1/Cel...ders/Page1.html

I'm not sure that this will answer you question, but it's interesting.

[Tim-n-VA]

from the website Open Original Shared Link

  Quote

TTG false positivity has been described in patients with both type I diabetes and autoimmune hepatitis. Theoretically, it can also be falsely positive in other autoimmune disease.

Now you have two different items on websites telling you conflicting information.

[melmak5]

dr. green's book also notes that there can be false ttg positives because of other autoimmune disease/disorders

i really wish someone would do a research study on the phenomenon

[Saoirse]

  Momma Goose said:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/21501/1/Cel...ders/Page1.html

I'm not sure that this will answer you question, but it's interesting.

Thanks Momma Goose

Yes that site was helpful. It looks like we are at risk for autoimmune hepatitis if we don't stay away from the gluten. So that does mean we are more likely to have a "false-positve" hepatitis c result.

Saiorse

[mamaw]

When I met Dr. Fasano , I asked that question because I was told I had a false positive. He agreed it happens......not often but it happens

[WW340]

I think most people are reading your question incorrectly.

How were you tested for hepatitis C?

Was it through blood screening for blood donation?

Those tests are screenings and are more prone to false positives. Since you already know it is a false positive, I assume you have had further testing.

The test is very sensitive, but it is not very specific, so every positive test must be followed up with a more specific test.

Any autoimmune disease has the potential to cause a false positive in this test. The screening test is looking for antibodies and can react in a person that has a lot of antibodies from another disease.

I have not seen anything that specifically noted a link between celiac and a false positive hepatitis C, but given that celiac is an autoimmune disease, it makes sense that it could be the cause of your false positive.

[Betty in Texas]

My GI also thought I had hepatitis after he did the scope and when he read the lads reports He ask me if I had ever had hepatitis I said no. He said my liver counts were off the charts and said he was going to run some more test. I had no ideal what he was running and when he call me in and told me it was celiac I had no ideal what that was I thought it was some kind of cancer but he was so good and really took a lot of time and explain every thing to me and told me to read a lot of book on it and learn . He said this is for life and no turning back.

[Saoirse]

  WW340 said:

I think most people are reading your question incorrectly.

How were you tested for hepatitis C?

Was it through blood screening for blood donation?

Those tests are screenings and are more prone to false positives. Since you already know it is a false positive, I assume you have had further testing.

The test is very sensitive, but it is not very specific, so every positive test must be followed up with a more specific test.

Any autoimmune disease has the potential to cause a false positive in this test. The screening test is looking for antibodies and can react in a person that has a lot of antibodies from another disease.

I have not seen anything that specifically noted a link between celiac and a false positive hepatitis C, but given that celiac is an autoimmune disease, it makes sense that it could be the cause of your false positive.

Yes I am quite convinced that the screening test was positive because of celiac. I was quite sick with allergy symptoms and had been eating a lot of wheat products. When I was retested I had been gluten free. If there are so many of us out there its possible they are being misdiagnosed with other things if

their doctor doesn't think of celiac. My nurse practioner never even heard of it. It is a shame so many peole don't know about celiac

Thanks

[cruelshoes]

All the links people have posted thus far have to do with autoimmune hepatitis. Autoimmune hepatitis and hepatitis C are not the same thing. Hep C is caused by a virus that you get from blood-to-blood contact. It may seem like splitting hairs, but I believe the distinction is important, both as it relates to the diagnosis and treatment of Hep C.

It is possible to have a false positive for hepatitis C (Open Original Shared Link), but is does not necessarily have anything to do with Celiac Disease. Anyone in the general population can have a false-positive because of the nature of the blood tests.

Glad you got to the bottom of things on your diagnosis.