Testing times mean hep C could be eliminated in the ACT

More than 500 people have been tested for hepatitis C (hep C) in the ACT over the past two years alone, up from 96 in 2021 and 2022.

But far from signalling a massive spike in the number of cases, Hepatitis ACT says it’s proof their point-of-care testing (POCT) facility is delivering on its promises.

The not-for-profit organisation, which provides support services for people affected by viral hepatitis, was given nearly $500,000 by the ACT Government in 2022 to kickstart a ‘Reach, Teach, Treat, Thrive’ program designed to rid the territory of hep C by 2030.

This included renovating its headquarters on David Street in Turner to establish a new testing clinic, said to make it easier and faster for people to get tested for hep C.

Hep C is a viral infection that affects the liver, and is spread through contact with infected blood, through sharing needles or syringes, or from unsafe medical and cosmetic procedures.

Symptoms can include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine and yellowing of the skin or eyes (jaundice). Left untreated, hep C can be life-threatening.

To get tested, you generally have to visit a GP for a referral to a pathologist for a blood test, and it would be a week and another visit to the GP to get the results before antiviral treatment could begin.

According to Hepatitis ACT director Sarah Ahmed, the new clinic has allowed people to walk in off the street, get tested and find out whether they’re positive for hep C within an hour.

And the approach has come with “absolutely amazing” results.

When the clinic opened in October 2022, it was estimated more than 2000 people were living in the ACT with chronic hep C, and of those, only 46 per cent were engaged in treatment.

“But since then, because of point-of-care testing and because of the outreach we’ve been able to provide to the community, we’ve tested nearly 500 people in two years,” Ms Ahmed says,

“That’s a 400 per cent increase in testing between 2021 and 2024.”

Of that number, 61 people have tested positive and, to date, 30 per cent have already completed treatment.

Additional funding this year from the John James Foundation has also allowed them to purchase a vehicle they used to conduct mobile testing at the likes of Ainslie Village and the Early Morning Centre.

For World Hepatitis Testing Week this week (starting 18 November), they’re testing all female prisoners at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in what’s hoped will become a biannual visit.

“So we’re not just sitting here waiting in Turner for people to come to us, we’re going out to where people are at and testing them there,” Ms Ahmed says.

“And that’s our most successful model of testing. Whenever we conduct outreach, we test about 10 people every single time, and on average, we test about two to three people a day in Turner.”

She says other states run similar programs, but while Australia as a whole might be running behind in resigning hep C to the history books, she’s confident the ACT will easily reach the deadline of zero cases by 2030.

“If there is any jurisdiction in Australia that would be able to eliminate hep C, it has to be the ACT – I have full faith in us,” she says.

“Hep C is not this big, scary thing anymore. There’s a quick test. There’s a quick treatment – a few pills over eight to 12 weeks, and you’ve cleared the virus. That’s the education we need to keep putting out there.”

The Hepatitis ACT testing clinic at 36 David Street, Turner, is open 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday for drop-ins. Testing is free.