Hepatitis C is an important public health issue today. And actually, much positive progress has been made in detecting, diagnosing, characterizing and treating this difficult disease in the past decade. Hepatitis C virus, or HCV, is now treatable, controllable and, in many cases, curable. Awareness of HCV is important for everybody. Awareness can lead to testing of those who think they might be at risk for the disease for any reason, such as past or current IV drug use, cocaine sniffing, blood transfusions prior to 1992, tattooing and body piercing, military service and unprotected sex with multiple partners.
Testing is a two-part process.
First, blood is tested for HCV antibody, which marks exposure to the disease. If you have given blood since 1992, you have had this test, and you were notified if the antibody was present. Next, testing for the presence of the virus with a second test confirms the current presence of virus. Knowing you have HCV allows you to make some decisions that may be lifesaving. Most importantly, the combination of HCV and alcohol is deadly.