World Hepatitis Day: Why So Many People in the UK Don't Know They Have It

Clinical Snapshot: Hepatitis B and C are viral infections that quietly damage the liver, often for years, with no symptoms at all. Anyone who's never had a liver panel, not just people with obvious risk factors, should consider testing. Early detection matters because damage is easier to manage before it progresses. One limitation worth knowing: normal liver enzymes on their own don't fully rule out infection.

If you've never had a hepatitis test, this is the week to think about it. Hepatitis B and C rarely cause symptoms early on, sometimes for decades, so a blood test is the only reliable way to know your liver is in the clear. Monday's World Hepatitis Day is a reasonable prompt, but the test itself doesn't need to wait for a calendar date.

I see this pattern often. Someone books a general check-up for something unrelated, tiredness, a family history nudge, curiosity, we run a liver panel as part of it, and every so often a marker sits outside range. No pain. No yellowing skin. No obvious reason to have suspected anything. The person is usually more surprised than worried, because they felt completely fine walking in.

Why hepatitis stays quiet for so long

The liver has an unusual talent: it can absorb a lot of ongoing damage and still function well enough that nothing feels wrong. That's what makes hepatitis B and C so easy to carry without knowing. Enzymes can drift, cells can be under strain, and day-to-day life continues exactly as normal.

UKHSA estimates around 268,000 people in England are living with chronic hepatitis B, and the majority don't know it. Hepatitis C affects an estimated 70,000 people in England, with a large share undiagnosed simply because there was never a symptom to prompt a test. NHS opportunistic testing in emergency departments has found roughly 1 in every 240 people tested was carrying hepatitis B without any prior diagnosis.

This is worth sitting with for a moment. These aren't rare numbers. They're just numbers nobody sees, because nobody went looking.

There's also a detail people rarely hear: a normal ALT or AST reading doesn't close the book. Liver enzymes can fluctuate, particularly in chronic hepatitis C, so someone can have a completely unremarkable reading on the day of their test and still be carrying the virus. It's one reason clinicians don't treat a single liver enzyme result as the whole story. It's read alongside viral markers, not instead of them.

How results get read in practice

Patients often assume a blood test spits out a yes or no answer. In practice, a clinician is rarely looking at one number in isolation. ALT and AST get weighed against GGT, bilirubin, and sometimes platelet count, because the pattern across markers tells you more than any single figure does. A mildly raised ALT next to everything else normal means something different to the same ALT next to a low platelet count.

This is also why a clinician might ask for a repeat test or an additional panel even when the first result looks reassuring. It's not overcaution for its own sake. Trends over time, and the relationship between markers, carry more clinical weight than a single snapshot.

Two questions come up constantly in consultations. The first: "I've never taken drugs or had a tattoo, so this doesn't apply to me, does it?" It's a fair assumption, and it's often wrong. Hepatitis B in particular can be acquired at birth, from a mother carrying the virus, and can sit undetected for decades in someone born in a country where it's more common, long before they ever moved to the UK. The second question: "If something was wrong, wouldn't I feel it?" Not necessarily, and that's really the whole point of testing rather than waiting for symptoms.

Hepatitis B compared with hepatitis C

People often ask what the actual difference is, since both get lumped together as "liver infections." They're not the same disease, and the practical implications differ.

	Hepatitis B	Hepatitis C
How it spreads	Blood, unprotected sex, birth from an infected mother	Mostly blood-to-blood contact (shared needles, unsterile tattoo/piercing equipment, pre-1991 transfusions)
Chance of becoming chronic	Low in healthy adults infected later in life, high if acquired at birth or in early childhood	High if untreated in adults, around 75-85%
Vaccine available	Yes, part of the NHS routine schedule since 2017	No vaccine currently available
Treatment	Managed long-term with antivirals if chronic; not usually "cured"	Curable in most people with an 8-12 week course of direct-acting antivirals

The most important thing to know about this comparison is that hepatitis C, despite sounding like the more serious diagnosis to many patients, is now genuinely curable for the majority of people who catch it. Hepatitis B is more often about long-term management than a cure. That distinction changes how a diagnosis should feel to receive, and it's rarely explained clearly outside a clinic room.

Who should test, and how to book it without the hassle

You don't need a specific risk factor to justify getting checked. But certain things do raise the odds worth knowing about: blood transfusions before 1991, tattoos or piercings done with unsterile equipment, shared needles at any point, unprotected sex with multiple partners, birth in a country where hepatitis B is more common, or simply never having had a liver panel done as an adult.

The best way to approach this is the same way you'd approach any screening test with no symptoms driving it: as routine maintenance, not crisis response. A single blood sample checks both viral markers and liver enzyme levels, with no fasting and no invasive procedure required, and you won't need a GP referral to book it. If a result does come back outside the expected range, that's not a diagnosis delivered on the spot. It means the finding is worth discussing with a healthcare professional, who can walk through what the numbers mean in context and what, if anything, happens next.

A lot of people put off this kind of check because it means booking annual leave, sitting in a GP waiting room, then a second trip back for results. A private blood test UK service removes that friction. Kuon Healthcare is a nationwide, remote blood test without GP referral needed. A qualified professional visits your home or workplace, takes the sample, and explains results in plain language rather than handing over a page of numbers to Google later.

Our Complete Wellness Check includes liver function as standard, alongside kidney health, cholesterol, blood sugar, and more, so a hepatitis-related liver marker doesn't need a separate booking. If you'd rather build a bespoke blood test around your own specific concerns, whether that's liver health, hormones, fertility, or general wellbeing, our Bespoke Wellness Profile lets you choose exactly what gets tested, because a 45-year-old with a family history of liver disease and a 28-year-old checking in for peace of mind don't need the same panel.

For men wanting liver health assessed alongside testosterone and cardiovascular markers, the Advanced Male Blood Test covers this in one visit. For women, the Advanced Well Women Blood Test does the same alongside hormone and thyroid markers. A home blood test UK service like this means "I keep meaning to get checked" can become a booked appointment, whether you're in central London, a village with no walk-in clinic, or anywhere in between.

World Hepatitis Day is a decent nudge, but here's the clinical takeaway worth remembering long after the awareness day passes: a normal-feeling body tells you almost nothing about your liver. The only test that does is the one you book. If it's been years, or you've never had one, that's reason enough on its own.

FAQs

Can I get a hepatitis test without going to my GP? 

Yes. Private blood test services, including Kuon Healthcare, offer hepatitis and liver function testing without a GP referral. A trained professional visits your home or workplace to take the sample nationwide.

What does a hepatitis blood test actually check for? 

It looks for viral markers of hepatitis B and C, alongside liver enzyme levels such as ALT and AST that reflect how the liver is functioning. A raised enzyme reading doesn't confirm a diagnosis by itself, it flags that further discussion with a healthcare professional is worthwhile.

Can I have hepatitis with completely normal blood test results? 

It's possible for liver enzymes to sit within range even with an active infection, particularly in chronic hepatitis C, since enzyme levels can fluctuate. That's why viral markers and liver enzymes are usually interpreted together rather than relying on one alone.

Are hepatitis B and C common in the UK?

 More common than most people assume. UKHSA estimates around 268,000 people in England live with chronic hepatitis B and around 70,000 with hepatitis C, with a large proportion undiagnosed because symptoms rarely appear early.

Is a private blood test as accurate as an NHS one?

 Yes. Private blood tests use the same accredited UK laboratories and testing standards as the NHS. The difference is convenience, appointment speed, and the ability to choose exactly which panels you want, including bespoke combinations.

Ready to take control of your health? Book your test today at kuonhealthcare.co.uk