Sanguen Health Centre and the local public health unit were offering free hep C testing downtown Guelph on Monday while raising awareness about prevention and treatment for the infection
Team members from Sanguen Health Centre and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health were stationed in St. George’s Square Monday morning to raise awareness about treatment and prevention for hepatitis C.
Hepatitis, or the swelling of the liver, can be caused by a number of things from medications, drugs, alcohol and viruses. Hepatitis C in particular is inflammation to the liver caused by the hep c virus, which is spread through blood to blood contact.
According to Sanguen’s website, it’s estimated between 250,000 and 300,000 Canadians are infected with hep c.
Locally, there were 36 documented cases of hep c in 2024, according to public health – well below the provincial level.
Still, testing and prevention remains important, especially given the recent closure of the Consumption and Treatment Services site, which offered a supervised injection site, as well as harm reduction supplies.
“One of the big concerns about the closure of the CTS is that there is (that there) is going to be an increased risk of infectious diseases, including hepatitis C, including HIV,” said Alaina Klassen, one of the nurses on-site.
She attributes that concern to the loss of resources for those exposing themselves to blood transmission through drug use, she said, which makes testing for these diseases more important than ever.
The issue with hep c is that a lot of the early signs and symptoms aren’t all that noticeable, and can be anything from fatigue to problems sleeping or poor appetite.
On its own, hep c takes a long time to cause significant liver damage, meaning it might be decades before any strong symptoms present, she said.
“Once it’s more progressed, you’ll see things like edema, which is the swelling of your peripherals,” she said.
“The important thing to do is get tested. Hep c is absolutely 100 per cent curable,” she said. “The medications that we have now are over 95 per cent effective.”
The goal, she said, is to be tested regularly, or whenever you’re worried about transmission.
“I would say annual testing is best for most sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections. For regular STI’s, I would say every six months to a year, but hep c is less of a risk when it comes to sexual interactions.”
Those who are most at risk of contracting hep c would be people who have blood to bloody exposure – through substance use or otherwise.
“What I find super interesting about hepatitis C is we have an acute versus chronic infection,” she said. “So for whatever reason, about 25 per cent of people who are exposed to hepatitis C can just clear it on their own.”
There are two methods of testing, as well.
Antibody testing, which was being offered during the event, can determine whether you have ever been exposed to hep c, but not necessarily whether you currently have it.
If you do test positive, that’s where viral load testing comes in. These tests will measure the amount of virus in the blood, determining whether there is an active infection that needs treatment.
The event was held in honour of World Hepatitis Day, and included food, music, and free hep c testing and information.
“Sanguen Health centre is actually a hepatitis C clinic,” Julie Kalbfleisch, director of fundraising and communications for Sanguen said. “That’s how we got our start, which quickly grew into a harm reduction based approach to healthcare. So today is really about getting back to those roots.”
“We, along with the province, want to see the goal of eradicating Hep C by 2030. It’s important to us because it’s avoidable, and with proper education and harm reduction, we can keep people healthy and safe and not have to go through treatment,” she said.
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