What do my blood test results actually mean?

A positive antibody test means the patient was exposed to the virus. It does not tell if the person has the actual virus. An HCV/RNA test, patients call this test a viral load test or PCR, tells if the person has actual virus. If HCV/RNA is undetected the antibody test was either a false positive or the patient fought the virus off without treatment as somewhere between 15-40% of patients do.