Hepatitis C Test Price in Pakistan: PKR 1,855 at Marham Lab

Anti HCV is the first blood test used to check for hepatitis C. It looks for antibodies your immune system makes after meeting the hepatitis C virus, which is why a result tells you about exposure rather than about what is happening in your liver today.

This matters more in Pakistan than almost anywhere. The World Health Organization records around 47 million people living with chronic hepatitis C worldwide, with the Eastern Mediterranean Region, which includes Pakistan, carrying the highest burden at 12 million.

WHO sets out hepatitis C diagnosis as a two step process, and understanding it prevents a great deal of unnecessary fear.

The second step exists for a specific reason. WHO notes that about 30 percent of people infected with hepatitis C clear the virus on their own through a strong immune response, without any treatment. They are no longer infected, but they will still test positive on the antibody test for life.

So a positive Anti HCV means one of two things: an infection that is still active, or an old infection your body already cleared. Only the PCR can tell those apart.

Take any positive result to a doctor rather than acting on it alone. One antibody test settles the question of exposure, nothing more.

Hepatitis C is quiet for a very long time. WHO notes that new infections are usually without symptoms, and that chronic infection often stays undiagnosed until decades later, when symptoms appear because of serious liver damage that has already happened.

Consider testing if any of these apply.

• You have had an injection, drip, dental procedure or surgery where sterilisation was uncertain
• You have received a blood transfusion, particularly an unscreened one
• You have shared needles or injecting equipment
• You are a healthcare worker with needle exposure
• Someone in your household has been diagnosed with hepatitis C
• Your liver function tests came back abnormal
• You are about to donate blood, or are being screened before a procedure

WHO also recommends testing across the general adult and adolescent population in settings where more than 2 percent of people carry the antibody.

• No fasting is needed for an Anti HCV test
• Eat, drink and take your medicines as normal
• Tell your doctor if you have been treated for hepatitis C before, since your antibody test will stay positive afterwards
• If this is a repeat test after a known exposure, tell your doctor when the exposure happened

• A trained phlebotomist draws a small blood sample from a vein in your arm
• The draw takes under a minute
• You may feel a brief sting and see a small bruise afterwards
• You can eat and drink normally before and after
• Your Marham Lab report is ready the same day and reaches you online

A positive antibody result is not the end of the story, and hepatitis C today is a very different illness from what it was a decade ago.

WHO reports that direct acting antiviral medicines cure more than 95 percent of people with hepatitis C, usually within 12 to 24 weeks of tablets, with few side effects. The barrier is not the treatment. It is that most people never find out they have it.

The next step after a positive Anti HCV is an HCV RNA PCR, which is PKR 4,900 at Marham Lab for the qualitative version. Your doctor may also order liver function tests to see how the liver is coping. Do not start or buy any treatment without a doctor confirming an active infection first.