What is hepatitis C?

Hepatitis C is a virus that you can catch through blood to blood contact, usually by sharing needles when injecting drugs, or sharing tattoo and piercing equipment.

When you have hepatitis C, it affects your liver and may lead to serious liver disease or cancer. Once you get hepatitis C, you probably will have to deal with it for the rest of your life.

Usually there are no signs when you first get hepatitis C, but after a while you might feel sick or tired, have muscle aches, pains in your stomach or feel like you have the flu all the time.

The good news is, there is treatment for hepatitis C - and it can get rid of the virus in 50-80% of cases. However, the best thing for your health is to avoid sharing needles and not getting hepatitis C in the first place.