Hep C Discussion Forum

This a question which crops up fairly frequently on the forum and I hope the information contained in this updated HCSP fact sheet will be helpful.

Testing positive for antibodies doesn`t necessarily mean that you have an active Hep C infection, it just means that you have been infected by the virus at some point.

About 55 - 85% of people with HCV antibodies (anti-HCV) still have the virus in their body 6 months after infection. 

This means that roughly 15 - 45% of people have anti-HCV but not the virus, which means that their immune system has been able to `clear` or get rid of the Hep C virus.

If you test positive for HCV antibodies, the next step is to get a confirmatory HCV RNA viral load test to see whether you do still have a Hep C infection.   If this result comes back `undetectable` then you do not have HCV, and if it comes back `detectable` then you have a chronic HCV infection which can be successfully treated.

More information contained in the fact sheet... `Testing Postive for Anti-HCV - Now What?`

-- This is a closed thread, for information only, but if anyone has any further questions on the subject, please start a new thread (`New Topic`) and we will reply to you.

Thanks..