New hepatitis C clinic to offer free testing

New Zealand's first free community hepatitis C clinic will open in Christchurch today.

Nurse and hepatitis C specialist Jenny Bourke will run the clinic.

She said an estimated 50,000 people in New Zealand had the virus, but only about 25 per cent of them were diagnosed.

With treatment more than half of people infected could be cured, Bourke said.

"It can take up to 20 years before it's picked up and significant damage is done. At that stage, it's `ambulance at the bottom of the cliff' stuff," she said.

The clinic is a three-year pilot funded by the Ministry of Health.

Bourke said some people contracted hepatitis C through unsterile tattooing, injecting drugs even only once and having received blood products before 1992.

The virus came to New Zealand in 1989, but blood products were not screened for it until 1992, meaning many people received "bad blood", she said. Most of these people had been identified and compensated.

The symptoms of hepatitis C, such as fatigue or joint pain, were often vague and could relate to other conditions.

Bourke urged anyone who thought they might have hepatitis C to go to the "discreet" Manchester St clinic for a check. "We want to get people checked out as soon as possible so they don't get things like cirrhosis of the liver or other liver damage," she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News