Who to test for hepatitis C
Perform testing in people with current or historical risk factors for hepatitis C infection—see Risk factors for hepatitis C infection. In people with ongoing risk factors for hepatitis C, annual testing for infection or reinfection (after treatment) is recommended.
Following a diagnosis of hepatitis C, it is important to discuss with the person the risks to their injecting and sexual partners. Testing and treating injecting partners (and sexual partners in high-risk groups1) reduces the risk of reinfection in the individual and transmission in the community.
- injecting drug use (current or past)
- being in prison
- sexual partner of a person with hepatitis C infection (increased risk in men who have sex with men, especially if HIV co-infection present)
- HIV or hepatitis B infection
- child of a mother with hepatitis C infection
- evidence of liver disease (persistently elevated alanine aminotransferase [ALT] concentration)
- needlestick injury
- birth in a high-prevalence region (Egypt, Pakistan, Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia)
- blood transfusion or organ transplant before 1990
- coagulation disorder treated with blood products or plasma-derived clotting factor products before 1993
- tattoos or body piercing