Hepatitis test in Puerto Rico: A, B and C, with a lab order

• Hepatitis A: spreads by the fecal-oral route: close or sexual contact with someone who has it, or contaminated food and water. According to the CDC, most adults with it turn yellow (jaundice).
• Hepatitis B: spreads through blood, sex and from mother to baby. It can become chronic.
• Hepatitis C: spreads mainly through blood, such as shared needles. According to the CDC, most people who get it develop a chronic infection, and many do not look or feel sick.

Because hepatitis B and C often cause no symptoms for years, testing is the only way to know.

According to the CDC:

• Hepatitis C: all adults 18 and older, at least once in their lifetime, and pregnant women during every pregnancy. Also anyone with risks, such as having injected drugs, having HIV or having received blood before 1992.
• Hepatitis B: all adults 18 and older, at least once in their lifetime, with a three-part panel; pregnant women, during every pregnancy. The CDC adds that anyone who asks for a hepatitis B test should get one, without having to explain their risks.

You see Dr. Diana Nieves Castro, MD, a Puerto Rico–licensed general practice physician with several years of emergency-department experience, in English or Spanish.

The doctor asks about your risks, vaccines and symptoms, and gives you a lab order for a lab near you. For hepatitis C, the CDC recommends starting with an antibody test and, if it is reactive, automatically running the virus test (RNA). For hepatitis B, the three-part panel shows whether you have the infection, are protected, or were ever exposed.

It often makes sense to get an HIV test and other STI tests at the same time. If what came back high on another test was your liver enzymes, see fatty liver.

Request a visit online 24/7 — we confirm your time by email or text.

A doctor visit costs US$79, with no membership, and includes the lab order. You pay the lab for the tests. Reviewing the result is a US$49 follow-up visit. You pay by card when you request the visit, and you get a full refund if the visit can’t take place. See all prices.

The doctor explains the result and refers you to a liver specialist (gastroenterologist or hepatologist) or an infectious-disease specialist. Hepatitis B and C treatment is managed by that specialist, not in our visits.

There is good news: according to the CDC, treatment cures more than 95% of people with hepatitis C, usually with pills for 8 to 12 weeks. That is why testing matters so much.

If you ate somewhere with a hepatitis A outbreak or live with someone who has it, according to the CDC the vaccine or immune globulin can protect you if given within 2 weeks of the exposure. That is given in person: call your doctor, your pharmacy or the Department of Health soon. Hepatitis A and B vaccines are given in person.

The CDC locator, gettested.cdc.gov (opens in a new tab), lists places that offer hepatitis, HIV and STI testing, many of them free or low cost and confidential.

For your safety, go to the emergency room or call 911 if you have any of these signs. See when to go to the ER.

If the patient is under 21, a parent or legal guardian must sign the consent, stay on camera for the whole visit and show photo ID.