Hepatitis C. What you need to know. - September 2025

[Bell] Hello and welcome to Coffee Break. Today we're talking about something that doesn't always make the headlines but really should. And that is Hepatitis C. This is a virus that often shows no symptoms for years, but if left untreated, it can cause serious liver damage and even liver cancer. The good news? Well, we can test for it easily and if caught early, it's completely manageable with modern treatments. So in this episode we are raising awareness. We want to break down stigma and we want to encourage more people, especially those who may not think they're at risk to get tested. Because Hepatitis C isn't just a problem at the past and finally it early can change lives. So, however you're a patient, a healthcare professional or you're just curious, this is a conversation worth having. [Music] I'm Dr. Jeff Ham and I'm Dr. Sam McGinley. And this is season one of Coffee Break. We are two general practitioners from beautiful dogs into the United Kingdom. And we are happy to have you here with us for another Coffee Break. In our show we give you helpful and useful health and wellness information in short and easily digestible episodes. And that's right and hopefully in a fun and enjoyable way as well. In today's Vat Sea of Health information, we hope to be your trusty island of reliable and impartial independent, unbiased information. And we may even have some guests with us to help. So sit back and enjoy a Coffee Break. [Music] So Hepatitis C is a virus that can infect the liver. And if you leave it untreated, it can sometimes cause quite serious and potentially life-threatening damage to the liver over many years. Hmm, that's right. And we do know some statistics. So, if we look at the information of every 100 people infected with the Hepatitis C virus, about 75 to 85 of those people will develop chronic Hepatitis C virus infection. And then of those 60 to 70 will go on to get chronic liver disease. Five to 20 will go on to develop cirrhosis over a period of 20 to 30 years. And one to five people will die from cirrhosis or liver cancer. Yeah, that's right. And as we said earlier, with modern treatments, it's usually possible these days to cure the infection. And most people with it, therefore, will have a normal life-threatening thing. Hmm. And it's estimated that around 118,000 people in the UK had chronic Hepatitis C. So, how can you become infected with Hepatitis? So, we've talked about what it is and what happens. But basically, you can become infected if you come into contact with the blood of an infected person. Hmm. So, what about the symptoms of Hepatitis C then? Well, Hepatitis C often doesn't have any noticeable symptoms. Does it? Until the liver has been quite significantly damaged. And therefore, approximately 70 to 80% of people with acute Hepatitis C don't have any symptoms. Yes. So, this is where the problem comes. Because many people will have the infection and don't even know that they have it. And the other problem is, is we'll go on to the symptoms, mainemic other conditions. So, it can be mistaken for other conditions for quite some time. That's right. It might not be the first thing that people think of as a cause for their symptoms. And if the symptoms do occur, the average time for the symptoms to occur is about six to seven weeks after you've been exposed, however, to make this even more complicated. That can actually vary from about two weeks to six months. So, it's not even quite as clear to us as that. So, what are the symptoms include, Sam? Well, here we go. These are the symptoms that, as I said earlier, can mimic other conditions. So, if you like symptoms, this might include muscle aches, the either. You might be feeling tired all the time. You may have a loss of appetite, stomach ache, or you might be feeling, or you might be being sick. So, as you can see, quite common symptoms that could represent a cluster of seven conditions. Okay, so how do we get hepatitis C? We alluded to this a bit earlier, but as we said, it's normally spread through blood-to-blood contact. And therefore, some ways the infection can spread include sharing uncerallized needles, particularly needles used to inject recreational drugs, sharing razors or toothbrushes. A pregnant woman can give it to her unborn baby, but you can get it through unprotected sex, although actually this is actually quite rare. And in the UK, we know that most cases of hepatitis C infections happen in people who inject drugs or who have injected them in the past. And it's estimated quite scarily that about half of those who inject drugs have been infected with virus. That's quite a big number. And heard those facts if you think you may have been exposed to hepatitis C. Taking a simple test will put your mind at rest. And/or if the test is positive, you could choose to start treatment early. So, what can you do to test? Well, you can do a simple finger-print test, and you can do this at home. So this is a free and confidential hepatitis C test. You prick your finger to get some blood, and then you send that sample to get tested. And this is what we call self-sign playing. I think you do need to be over 18 years old and need at the moment to have an address in England to get it. And we'll include the address in the show notes for all Drought Online. Yeah, definitely. And so we say, well, who should get tested? And really, as we've just said, if you think you could have been infected, then it's a definitely good thing to be tested. But you should consider getting tested if you're worried that you fall into one of the groups at an increase risk on becoming infected. So as we said, hepatitis C has no symptoms often, especially in the early stages. So you can feel healthy, and you can still have hepatitis C. So some of the groups at an increase risk include extra users, current drug users, particularly those of injected drugs, as we said. People who have had blood transfusions before September 1991, or blood products before 1986 in the UK. Any UK recipient of organ or tissue transplants before 1992. And people who have lived or had treatment in an area where hepatitis C is common in these areas of places like Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Babies and children whose mothers have hepatitis C definitely, anybody accidentally exposed to the virus. So this is healthcare workers. Yeah, people who have had a tattoo or a piercing, especially where the equipment might not have been properly sterilised. Sexual partners, family members, and close contacts of people with hepatitis C. And if you're someone who continues to engage in high risk activities such as injecting drugs, then regular testing may actually be recommended for you. And if you speak to your clinician, they'll be able to advise you more about this. So we talked about the test you can order. So she can talk about, "Bring that down a little bit, yeah, it will work." So there's actually two blood tests. There's the antibody test, and then there's a test with a PCR or polymerase chain reaction test. And if you order and do the self-test online, you will usually get to result within two weeks. So the antibody test, how does that work? Well, the antibody test determines to see whether you've actually ever been exposed at all to the hepatitis C virus. It tests for antibodies to the virus. And antibodies are the things that our immune systems produce when they're exposed to something to help protect us in the future. So the test doesn't show a positive reaction for several months after infection because it takes time for your body to create that immune response. So if the test is negative, but you have symptoms, or you might have an exposed hepatitis C, you might be advised to test again. A positive test, really importantly, a positive antibody test indicates you've been infected at some stage, but doesn't necessarily mean you're currently infected as you may have said, "Clear the virus from your body." So the only real way to tell if you're currently infected is to have that second blood test, isn't it? The PCR test? The PCR test, yeah. So that's a very clever test. It actually looks for the presence of virus in your blood, and really whether it's still reproducing. And so if that test comes back positive, it means that the virus is still in your bloodstream, and the body hasn't brought it off, and you are actually still currently infected. The third testing, if you have an active hepatitis C infection, you will be referred to a specialist. They will in a range other tests to actually look at your whole liver health, establish if and how much liver damage there may be. And that might include some more blood tests, including liver enzymes, and also an ultrasound scan to look at the structure of your liver, measure it's stiffness or levels of what we call fibrosis, and other processes that can happen. And then they'll go on to discuss treatment options. So Sam, what would be your take-home point from this episode? I think a couple of things I think. So being aware that if you're in a risk of. group to understand that you may have no symptoms and also to be brave to mention it to your healthcare professional because they will be trained to think about it but actually in a particular concentration they may not be thinking about it at that point so it's worth just bringing it up if it's crossed your mind. I think it's right, it's it because there's potentially still a lot of stigma attached to it but I see if you think about it at risk groups and so if you are worried for any reason if you've ever been in one of those risk groups or if you're if you're somebody who thinks you may have it for any other reason talk to your clinician or get a home test if you're over 18 and in England it's really easy to pick up it's really easy to test and do an importantly for the majority of people we can treat it. This has been an episode of Coffee Break and we hope you've enjoyed it and if you have then I hope you're joining us for another Coffee Break soon. Remember if you want to get in touch with us or if you have any ideas or suggestions then please feel free to email us at the show at [email protected]. You can listen to us and subscribe to the show on any of the podcast platforms and via your computer, smartphone and home smart devices. We have used a variety of resources for the information in the show to try and assure that it is up to date and the most applicable. We have also put any information links we have discussed in the show. Coffee Break is a coffee break production and is edited and produced by Ming.jf. It's created written and hosted by.jf.com and me Dr. Sam McGinley. All the content we provide in the show is for General Information Purbs is only. The content does not constitute medical or health care advice. The content is valid in England at the time of recording. The content should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional medical or health care advice applicable to your specific circumstances. We advise that you always consult a qualified medical professional for any medical matters.