Hepatitis C Care at AXCES FAQs

We are always available to answer any questions you may have about Hep C or any of our patient services by phone, text message, or email, but keep scrolling for answers to some of our most common patient questions about HIV and our HIV care services. 

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  • Treating hepatitis C (HCV) can be life-changing — it can improve your liver health and have benefits for your whole body and quality of life.  

    • One in five people who get HCV will cure it themselves. This means that 4 out of 5 people who get it need medical intervention to cure it. 

    • Modern medications can cure HCV in more than 95% of patients if they take their meds as prescribed. Treatment typically means you take one or more pills daily for 8 to 12 weeks, with minimal side effects. 

    • Once the Hepatitis C virus is gone for more than 12 weeks, you are cured and can’t pass HCV on to someone else. 

    • However, it is important to remember that if you are exposed to HCV again, you can be re-infected. 

  • Typically, individuals with a history of HCV infection are not able to donate blood or plasma. But sometimes organ donation is considered on a case-by-case basis.

  • The CDC recommends one-time testing for everyone aged 18 and older. Routine testing is advised for individuals with ongoing risk factors, such as: 

    • If you have ever injected drugs—even just one time and even if it was a very long time ago. This includes if it was for hormones like estrogen or testosterone. 

    • If you ever received a blood transfusion, had a caesarean section, or had an organ transplant before 1992. 

    • If you have HIV. 

    • If you were born to a mother with HCV. 

  • These are measures you can take to protect yourself from getting HCV: 

    • Avoiding sharing needles or personal items that might be contaminated with even a small amount of blood (including nail clippers or toothbrushes). 

    • Make sure you get tattoos and piercings done with sterile equipment. Any good artist will gladly answer questions about how they keep their clients safe. 

    • Practice safe sex, especially with new or multiple partners, or when toys are involved. 

    Currently, there is no vaccine for HCV, so prevention is the only way to avoid getting HCV. 

  • Though science is changing rapidly, at this time there isn’t a vaccine to prevent Hepatitis C.