Know your risks:
Some people have a higher risk for hepatitis C infection, including:
- Current injection drug users (currently the most common way Hepatitis C virus is spread in the United States)
- Past injection drug users, including those who injected only one time or many years ago
- People born between 1945 and 1965
- Recipients of donated blood, blood products, and organs (once a common means of transmission but now rare in the United States since blood screening became available in 1992)
- People who received a blood product for clotting problems made before 1987
- Hemodialysis patients or persons who spent many years on dialysis for kidney failure
- People who received body piercing or tattoos done with non-sterile instruments
- People with known exposures to the Hepatitis C virus, such as
- Health care workers injured by needlesticks
- Recipients of blood or organs from a donor who tested positive for the Hepatitis C virus
- HIV-infected persons
- Children born to mothers infected with the Hepatitis C virus
Click here for additional information about hepatitis C
Know your status:
If you think you may be at risk for viral hepatitis infection, the next step is to get tested to know your status. Hepatitis testing may be included as a free service in your private insurance plan if you have risks for infection or if you were born between 1945 and 1965. If you don’t have insurance, see the link below for low-cost or no-cost testing options.
www.knowyo.org – Through knowyo.org, you can access low/no cost hepatitis testing at clinics throughout the state. These clinics also provide HIV and STD testing and provide adult hepatitis A and B vaccine for those who have not been vaccinated.
Already know your status?
Medications exist that can cure most types of hepatitis C infection. See the links below for support and resources for living with and treating hepatitis C.
Hepatitis C Treatment Access: This page has information for patients and providers to assist in attaining access to hepatitis C treatment.
Hepatitis C Treatment Assistance Programs: This page includes a listing of treatment assistance programs available for people who cannot afford curative hepatitis C medication.
Help 4 Hep: This Program provides peer-to-peer support for hepatitis C and the associated challenges. The phone call and support are all free of charge.
HIV/HCV Coinfection: Many people infected with HIV are also infected with HCV. This page gives more information on HIV/HCV coinfections.