Hepatitis C is a virus carried in the blood that affects the liver.

It is not related to HIV/AIDS.

There are about 210,000 people in Australia with hepatitis C - that's about 1 person out of every 100.

There are about 16,000 people infected with hepatitis C every year. That means 1 Australian is infected every 32 minutes.

Many people don't know they have hepatitis C until they are tested.

Most people don't feel sick when they first get the virus. Some other people do get ill for a short time. They may notice that they have dark urine when they go to the toilet and their eyes and skin may go yellow (jaundice). Other people may have a short illness that feels like the flu.

Some people clear the hepatitis C virus from their blood without treatment. This means they no longer have hepatitis C and can't infect anyone else.

Other people continue to have the virus in their blood.

Some people who continue to have hepatitis C never get sick.

After many years (usually 10 to 20 years or more), some people start to feel tired or sick. This could include having aches and pains, flu like symptoms and moodiness.

A small number of people with hepatitis C may get very serious liver disease and only a very small number of these people may die.

Most people with hepatitis C don’t die from it.
It is a good idea for everyone with hepatitis C to talk to their doctor or specialist doctor who will do some tests to see how well they are and check that their liver is healthy. Their doctor may suggest treatment.

Some people also use complementary therapies, such as herbal medicines, meditation and naturopathy, change their diet and drink as little alcohol as possible to look after themselves.