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.