Anyone at risk of hepatitis C should be offered a test, this includes:
- Anyone who has ever injected drugs
- Recipients of unscreened blood transfusion or blood products
- People from countries where hepatitis C is endemic
- People who may have had unsterile medical or dental procedures abroad
- People involved in high risk sexual practices with a person who is HCV positive
- People who may have had ear piercing, body piercing, tattooing or acupuncture with unsterile equipment
- Children born to mothers with HCV who are HCV RNA positive
- Consider for any patient with abnormal liver function tests (LFT), especially elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT)
Sample required for diagnosis: one clotted blood (2-4ml) samples ( purple top EDTA blood bottles) should be sent to your local laboratory for Hepatitis C RNA/PCR/Viral load testing.
Further testing will be required if the last exposure risk occurred in the preceding three month 'window period'.