Free testing clinics in the Northern Territory on World Hepatitis Day

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Northern Territory Aids and Hepatitis Council is holding free testing clinics this week to mark World Hepatitis Day today. People can be tested for free at the hepatitis council locations in Alice Springs. Anngie Everitt is a nurse practitioner at the Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council.

Transcript

00:00So I think at the moment we're estimating there's probably over 300,000 people in Australia

00:07living with hepatitis, and that's either hepatitis B or hepatitis C. And again, so we'll be saying

00:14just over 6,000 in the Northern Territory. But it's something we really don't know. It's

00:18always, it's kind of, obviously we know people have had confirmed testing, but we don't know

00:22who else out there that hasn't been tested. So we're really keen for everyone to find

00:27out their hepatitis status. Yeah. So you're saying that actual number

00:30could be a lot higher. That's why free testing is so important. You know, what sort of response

00:36have you had? I mean, how busy do you expect it to be over this week?

00:40Oh, I'd love it to be super busy, but we've kind of been working away in this space for

00:45many years now. We've, down in the Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council in Darwin,

00:51we've been running a clinic every Thursday for nearly four years for people to come and

00:57access hepatitis testing for free. But yeah, it'd be nice to have a little, have a little

01:02boom this week, being World Hepatitis Day and week, we'll drag it out.

01:07Yeah. And as you said, there are different types of hepatitis. What is of concern here

01:13in Australia and specifically where you are in the NT?

01:17I guess, nationally, I guess our biggest hepatitis concerns are with hepatitis B and hepatitis C,

01:24which would also, it's the same in the Northern Territory. And we do tend to have a high prevalence

01:30of hepatitis C specifically in our First Nations people in the Northern Territory. But again,

01:36we still have, I think, quite high hepatitis C rates per capita. Then we see nationally as well. So

01:44yeah, we really need to get onto it.

01:47And what would people be looking out for to bring them to, you know, the free testing that you're

01:51offering or testing in general, or should they just come along anyway?

01:55Oh, absolutely. I think it's just, it's just good to know. It's one of those, it's a cheeky

01:59kind of virus. I think not many people can ever remember when they've acutely caught it. You know,

02:04there can be the symptoms when someone first gets in contact with it and they, you know,

02:08can become quite unwell and have dark urine and even potentially, you know, go the,

02:12a little bit yellow tinge skin, but no one really experiences that or remembers that experience.

02:17It's kind of, it's just, you come in contact with it and then it's pretty much asymptomatic,

02:22which is the tricky thing about it. So people don't know they have it because they feel fine.

02:27Or as time goes on, there's other little things that people, we just don't associate with it,

02:31like brain fogginess and feeling tired or poor appetite and things like that. So these are the

02:38things that we find people report once they've been treated that they, wow, I feel so much better.

02:42I didn't even consider that these were related to the hepatitis. And how is it treated?

02:49So they're different for both. The hepatitis C now, we've got wonderful new treatments that have

02:55been around for nearly a decade now that are really simple direct acting antivirals that can be taken

03:01over two to three months, just, you know, tablets once a day and have really, really high efficacy and

03:07really well tolerated in people. So that's great to have. And for the hepatitis B,

03:14the important thing for people with hepatitis B is just to be engaging in healthcare. It's just

03:18something that needs to be monitored. It's a virus that goes through different stages over time and

03:24not everyone will need medication and treatment for it. That's why we kind of like to monitor people,

03:31you know, every six to 12 months and keep an eye on their blood levels. And certainly if they need

03:35treatment, then we can prescribe medication for them. Of course, it can be prevented through

03:39vaccinations. Are there any concerns in vaccination uptake?

03:43I think we're doing quite well. In the Northern Territory, I think they're saying like 93% of our

03:49babies now are being vaccinated for hepatitis B, which is amazing. That's really great.

03:54And I think the other important thing to remember is for babies that are born to mothers with hepatitis B,

04:00there's an extra hepatitis B vaccine that needs to be given. So it's just, I think, being mindful.

04:07But that's something we need to consider as well as health workers and people working with

04:11mothers with hepatitis B.

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