Focus on Hepatitis C in North Bay for this year's World Hepatitis Day

July 28 is World Hepatitis Day and in North Bay, the focus is on raising awareness and education about Hepatitis C.

Officials from the AIDS Committee of North Bay told CTV News one to two per cent of the city's population is living with Hepatitis C.

While that number hasn't increased from last year, it still raises concerns.

"Probably half those folks don't know they have it," said nurse practitioner Keri McGuire-Trahan.

"If you don't know you have it, we can't treat it. If we don't treat it, eventually -- because it is a slow-moving disease -- it's going to hurt your liver."

McGuire-Trahan said the pandemic made it hard for people to access safe supplies.

"So I do suspect that percentage to go up in the next year."

While COVID-19 testing and vaccines have been at the forefront for the past two and a half years, McGuire-Trahan said Hepatitis C testing has gone down.

She said it's slowly starting to pick up, but she is still encouraging more people to get tested.

"It's starting to ramp up now, we've already done one testing event down in the Parry Sound area," McGuire-Trahan said.

"If someone is looking for a Hep C test … it's a little tiny blood draw like a diabetes stick, so it's just a little drop of blood and it takes 20 minutes."

She said for those who do come back with a positive test, treatment is available and there's a 97 per cent cure rate.