Have I been exposed? Antibody testing

Have I been exposed to Hepatitis C?

To find out whether you have ever been exposed to Hepatitis C, you will be given a blood test called an Antibody Test.

When you are exposed to Hepatitis C, your immune system makes antibodies to fight off the virus. These antibodies stay in your body long after the virus has gone.

If the antibodies are detected in your blood, the Antibody test will come back positive. This tells you that you have been exposed to the Hepatitis C virus at some point in your life. However, you might not still be infected.

A PCR test would be run next to see if there is any Hepatitis C still circulating in you body.

Window Period for Antibody Testing

If you were only recently put at risk of Hepatitis C, you may have to repeat the antibody test above after 6 months. This is to give the immune system time to produce antibodies before trying to detect them.