HIV & sexual health
Hepatitis B and C
Two different viruses that get talked about as one. One is preventable with a vaccine. The other is curable, and has been for years.
If you were diagnosed with hepatitis C years ago
Treatment changed completely. What used to be a long, harsh course with a poor chance of working is now short, taken by mouth, and cures most people.
And the rules changed. People who used drugs, people who drank, people who had not seen a specialist, people who had failed treatment before — all of those were reasons to be refused, and none of them are reasons now. If you were turned away once, that decision was made under a policy that no longer exists.
Nobody wrote to tell you any of this. That is the single most common reason someone living with hepatitis C today is still living with it.
Hepatitis B is a different situation
Hepatitis B is preventable by vaccination, and the vaccine is one of the ones most worth having if you have not had it. See vaccines that protect against STIs for who qualifies for it free.
If you already have it, it is managed rather than cured. That means monitoring, and treatment for some people and not others — a decision that depends on what your liver and your bloodwork are actually doing, not on a rule of thumb.
Many people have it and do not know
Chronic hepatitis B is common among people born in parts of the world where it was transmitted at birth before vaccination programs existed, which includes a great deal of this neighbourhood. It usually causes no symptoms for decades. Testing is a blood test.
What testing involves
A blood draw, done in the building — see bloodwork in the building. It is often done at the same time as other sexual health testing, and there is no reason to make two trips of it.
Testing here is confidential: your result is part of your medical record and is protected like the rest of it.
What it costs
Testing ordered for a medical reason is generally insured. Treatment is a separate question that depends on your drug coverage rather than on OHIP, and there are several routes in Ontario depending on your circumstances.
Working out which route applies to you is part of the job rather than something you are sent away to research. Cost has kept people from being cured of a curable illness, which is a bad reason for it to happen.
Common questions
Can I be cured and then get it again?
Being cured of hepatitis C does not make you immune to it. That is worth knowing rather than discovering, and it is a reason testing continues afterwards rather than stopping.
Do I need to see a specialist?
Often not. Much of this is now managed in primary care, which is a large part of why access improved. Where a specialist is genuinely needed, that referral is made from here.
I use drugs. Will that be held against me?
No. It is relevant clinical information and it is not a disqualification — being refused treatment on those grounds is exactly the practice that was abandoned. See also walk-in if you would rather start with something smaller.
Does my partner need testing?
Worth discussing, and the answer differs between hepatitis B and C. It is a conversation rather than a form letter.
Kind Pharmacy on the ground floor handles the dispensing side, including the coverage paperwork that decides what treatment costs you. Kind Clinic and Kind Pharmacy are separate businesses under common ownership. You can fill your prescription anywhere.
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