Importance of getting tested

Hepatitis C can often be treated successfully if it is diagnosed early enough. If you are at risk of being infected, it is important to get tested because there are usually no symptoms until the disease has progressed too far to be treated.

If you are infected, you may have infected others without realizing it.



How to get tested

Use the Self-Assessment Tool to find out if you may have been exposed to hepatitis C. If the report indicates that you are at risk, contact your health care provider about having a simple blood test, called an 'antibody' test. (When your body detects disease, it produces antibodies to combat it.)



Confidentiality

The results of the antibody test, and the fact that you have taken it, are strictly confidential between you and your health care provider. You are under no obligation to reveal the results to anyone else.



If the antibody test is positive:

If the antibody test is positive, another test is performed by the laboratory to confirm that you are infected with hepatitis C. It may also be necessary to have a liver biopsy, which will show how much the virus may have affected your liver.

If the antibody test and/or biopsy show that you are infected, and if the infection has not progressed too far, there are treatments (see Treatment and Care) that can clear the hepatitis C virus. Your health care provider will tell you whether you would benefit from treatment.

A small percentage of people will clear the virus on their own but will always test positive for antibodies thereafter.



If the antibody test is negative:

If the antibody test is negative, it means that you have not been infected by the hepatitis C virus. However the virus can take several months to develop, so if you have recently been at risk of infection, you should return to your health care provider for a repeat test.