Hepatitis C is a virus that can infect the liver. You can become infected with it if you come into contact with the blood of an infected person (blood-to-blood contact). There is a cure for hepatitis C. Nearly all people with hepatitis C can be cured and treatment is free. Without treatment, hepatitis C can damage the liver over many years.

The hepatitis C virus is usually spread through blood-to-blood contact. Some ways the infection can be spread include:

• sharing unsterilised needles
• sharing razors or toothbrushes
• during pregnancy to an unborn baby
• through unprotected sex - but this is very rare

In Ireland, most hepatitis C infections happen in people who inject drugs or have injected drugs in the past.

To get a hepatitis C test, you can:

• order a free hepatitis C test to do at home
• ask your GP
• use a testing service at a sexual health clinic

Hepatitis C can be treated with medicines that stop the virus multiplying inside the body. Treatment is usually taking direct-acting antiviral (DAA) tablets for 8 to 12 weeks. Using these medicines, more than 95% of people with hepatitis C may be cured. Treatment does not make you immune to hepatitis C. But there are things you can do to reduce your risk of becoming infected again.

Living with hepatitis C

There's no vaccine for hepatitis C, but there are ways to reduce your risk of becoming infected. To protect yourself from hepatitis C:

• do not share any drug-injecting equipment ('works') with other people - this includes needles, syringes, spoons and filters
• do not share razors or toothbrushes that might be contaminated with blood
• The risk of getting hepatitis C through sex is very low. But it may be higher if blood is present, such as period blood or from minor bleeding during anal sex.

It's a good idea to use condoms when having anal sex or sex with a new partner.