A visit to www.hepcurenz could save your life

World Hepatitis Day,2019

A visit to www.hepcurenz could save your life

The Addiction Practitioners’ Association is urging people who’ve injected drugs at any time in their life or have been exposed to infected blood in other ways, to put embarrassment aside and ask their doctor for a hepatitis test to prevent the potentially debilitating and deadly disease manifesting in later life.

In a statement to mark World Hepatitis Day (Sunday July 27,2019 ) Sue Paton, the CEO of Dapaanz, the Addiction Practitioners’ Association says an estimated 50,000 New Zealanders are infected with chronic hepatitis C but half are unaware they have the virus.

“Some are older New Zealanders who dabbled in drug use in their youth but put it all behind them to live successful lives. Others may have been tattooed or had piercings with non-sterile equipment. People who had blood transfusions in New Zealand before 1992 or medical care in third world countries are also at risk.

We’re urging people to visit our hepcurenz website , www.hepcure.nz/ , where people from all walks of life talk about their symptoms, or lack of symptoms because Hep C is largely asymptomatic until later in life when it can attack the liver and lead to deadly conditions.

We now have highly effective, free medicines that cure close to one hundred percent of those infected with hepatitis C but free and effective medicines mean nothing if those infected fail to seek treatment,”she says.

“It might be the slightest of memories or you might not remember at all but if there are any question marks whatsoever around injecting drugs (even once), or any of these other ways of infection, then please get the test.”

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