Solano County Department of Public Health is now offering rapid Hepatitis C testing at its HIV clinic in Vallejo, 365 Tuolumne Street. The test is confidential and free to anyone at risk for infection. Results are available in 20-40 minutes.  According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 75 percent of people infected with Hepatitis C do not know they have it because there are often no symptoms for several years.

Hepatitis C is not a listed impairment for disability.  I.e, you cannot win disability for simply having it.  In order to win disability for hepatitis, it is best to argue that you meet listing 5.o5, chronic liver disease.

It is diagnosed by the detection of hepatitis C viral RNA in the blood for at least 6 months. Documentation of the therapeutic response to treatment is also monitored by the quantitative assay of serum HCV RNA (“HCV viral load”). Treatment usually includes a combination of interferon injections and oral ribavirin; whether a therapeutic response has occurred is usually assessed after 12 weeks of treatment by checking the HCV viral load.

Hepatitis C is a virus that affects the liver and can cause serious health problems including liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer and even death.  It is most commonly passed from person to person through infected blood. Currently, most people become infected with Hepatitis C by sharing needles and other injection drug equipment.

Testing is available on a drop-in basis on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month from 5-7 p.m. at the Solano County Family Health Services Clinic, 365 Tuolumne St., Vallejo. For more information call 707-553-5552.