Case Definition

For adults, adolescents and children > 18 months:

Acute Hepatitis C Infection

Confirmed Case

• positive HCV antibody test result; OR
• positive HCV RNA test result;

        AND

• negative HCV antibody test result on record within the prior 12 months.

Chronic Hepatitis C Infection [1]

Confirmed Case

• positive HCV RNA test result;

        AND

• negative HCV antibody test result on record > 12 months; OR
• no documentation available of previous HCV antibody test result.

Unstaged Hepatitis C Infection

Confirmed Case

• positive HCV antibody test result; AND
• no HCV RNA test result available;
  

        AND

• negative HCV antibody test result on record > 12 months; OR
• no documentation available of previous HCV antibody test result.

Resolved Hepatitis C Infection [1,2]

Confirmed Case

• negative HCV RNA test result; AND
• positive HCV antibody test result.

Unstaged Hepatitis C Infection (For children ≤ 18 months) [3]:

Confirmed Case

• positive HCV RNA test result ≥ 4 to 6 weeks of age; OR
• positive HCV antibody test result at 18 months of age.

Notes

1. If a positive HCV antibody test result and a HCV RNA test result are received at the same time, report as an "acute" case and then change to "chronic" or "resolved" using the same date.
2. For the purposes of surveillance, for all cases > 18 months, only a single negative HCV RNA test result is required to confirm resolution (no time parameter).
   
3. In the case of children ≤ 18 months, leave unstaged until further testing has been completed.  This can be revised to "chronic" or "resolved" if further HCV RNA test results become available after 18 months of age.
   

Further Information

For more information on the case definition of hepatitis C, please refer to the Communicable Disease Control Manual, Hepatitis C: Section 5.1 .