Category: Hep C

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Call the Hepatitis Infoline!

Infoline: 1800 437 222

Got a question about hepatitis or liver health? Check our FAQs

In most situations, you do not have to share information about your hepatitis status, but there are four exceptions:

Healthcare workers engaging in ‘invasive or exposure prone procedures’. This means surgery or other procedures that may require a nurse, surgeon or other healthcare provider to work inside the body of another person.
If donating blood or blood products (such as plasma), semen, ova, or organs.
If seeking employment in the Australian Defence Force, you are required to declare your health status in relation to any disease, illness or injury.
Applying for insurance or superannuation.

Find about more about telling someone you have hepatitis.

Yes. Being cured of hepatitis C won’t protect you from getting hepatitis C again.

To prevent reinfection take steps to avoid blood-to-blood contact. For example, use
sterile injecting and tattooing equipment every time.

If you know others that may have hepatitis C consider getting tested or treated together.

As a general guide, get tested for hepatitis C every 12 months if you have regular exposure to activities that put you at risk of hepatitis C.

Find out more about hepatitis C.

Treatment to cure hepatitis C is available from your doctor or health clinic. If your liver has been badly damaged you may be referred to a specialist doctor or liver clinic for care.

Most people can be cured of hepatitis C by taking tablets daily for 8 to 12 weeks.

Hep C treatments:

Give you at least a 95% chance of being cured
Have little to no side effects
Are just pills (no injections)
Are covered by Medicare, so are very low cost

You can talk to your local doctor (GP), Aboriginal Medical Service or sexual health clinic about getting
tested and treated for hepatitis C. You can also search our health directory to find local hepatitis C services.

Find out more about hepatitis C.

You will need a blood test or fingerstick test (also known as a point-of-care test) to check if you have the hepatitis C virus.

Your doctor (GP) or health clinic can give you a referral for a hepatitis C blood test. Some sexual health clinics, alcohol and other drug services (AODS), and needle and syringe programs (NSPs) offer on-site testing.

Find out more about hepatitis C.

As many as 80% of people who have hepatitis C will have no symptoms. Even if you feel well it is important to get a hepatitis C test if you think you have come into contact with hepatitis C positive blood.

If you do experience symptoms, these may include:

Tiredness
General aches & pains
Loss of appetite
Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes)
Nausea
Brain fog or confusion.

Find out more about hepatitis C.

To get hepatitis C, the blood of a hepatitis C positive person must enter your bloodstream (blood-to-blood contact).

You may have come into contact with hepatitis C if you have ever:

Shared injecting drug equipment (including needles, syringes, tourniquets, water, filters or spoons), or been injected by someone else
Had a backyard/prison tattoo or piercing
Had a needle stick injury
Received a blood transfusion overseas or in Australia before 1990
Had an overseas dental or medical procedure.

Find out more about hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C (or hep C) is a virus that causes inflammation and damage to your liver. If left untreated, hepatitis C can cause long term liver disease, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) and liver cancer.

Hepatitis C is spread through blood-to-blood contact, most commonly through sharing injecting equipment, unsterile tattooing/piercing or overseas medical procedures.

While there is no vaccine for hepatitis C, there are simple, effective treatments that can clear the virus for most people.