Hepatitis C Virus Clia Blood
What is this test?
This test measures the levels of Hepatitis C virus in the blood. This test helps to confirm the presence of Hepatitis C infection and assess the severity. This test is also performed during and after the treatment of Hepatitis C infection to evaluate the treatment response.
What is the Hepatitis and Hepatitis C Virus:
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver and can lead to scarring, cirrhosis or liver cancer. Hepatitis can be caused due to auto-immune diseases, alcohol or toxic substances. Hepatitis C is transmitted through blood to blood contact with someone infected with HCV. Usually, acute HCV infection is asymptomatic (does not show any symptoms). In individuals with chronic infection symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue, fever, dark urine, decreased appetite, joint pain etc are seen.
Hepatitis C Virus HCV causes both acute and chronic infection. It is transmitted through the reuse of medical equipment, mainly syringes, needles and by transfusion of unscreened blood and blood products. It can also be transmitted sexually and can pass from an infected mother to baby. It can not be spread through breast milk, water, food or by casual contact like hugging, sharing food or drinks and kissing with an infected person.
Why This test Is Performed:
This test is performed to check the presence of Hepatitis C Virus in the blood. The doctor may ask you to undergo this test if you are suffering from symptoms and conditions such as liver cancer, cirrhosis, jaundice, fever, dark urine, abdominal pain, joint pain etc. If an individual is on the treatment for Hepatitis C virus HCV then the doctor may ask to perform this test to evaluate and to check the effectiveness of the treatment. Mostly, this test is done along with other hepatitis tests to confirm the diagnosis.
How Often This Test Should Be Performed:
If you have been diagnosed with HCV, your doctor may advise you to get this test done once in a year based on your clinical condition. If you are a healthy individual above the age of 35, your doctor may advise you to undergo this test either on a yearly basis or every other year.
Precautions:
Contaminated blood samples may give false positive results. In such cases, it is recommended to do a new sample collection and repeat the test.
Test Preparation
Inform your doctor if you are on any medications, have any allergies or underlying medical conditions before your Hepatitis C Virus Clia Blood. Your doctor will give specific instructions depending on your condition on how to prepare for Hepatitis C Virus Clia Blood.
There are no specific preparations required for this test.
Understanding your test results
The test results may be different depending on gender, age, health conditions, and other factors.
Undetectable or low HCV levels and no signs of liver damage, it may indicate that you are at an inactive stage of Hepatitis C infection (nonreplicative).
In individuals receiving treatment for hepatitis C infection, if the blood sample does not contain Hepatitis C virus or significant low levels it may indicate a more likely or likely response to treatment.
If the test results show high Hepatitis C virus blood levels than the normal range and signs of liver damage it may indicate that you are at an active stage of Hepatitis C infection (replicative) and need treatment.
In individuals receiving treatment for hepatitis infection, the presence of high HCV virus levels indicates, a poor response to the treatment. Presence of HCV in the blood after the treatment may indicate recurrence of the infection.
| Gender | Age groups | Value |
| UNISEX | All age groups | 0 to 1.0 |