It’s an exciting time for Dr. Lisa Barrett as a specialist in infectious diseases and hepatitis C.

“We now think of it as a curable chronic viral infection,” she says.

In fact, Dr. Barrett says hepatitis C could potentially be eradicated altogether.

“Treatment is so good right now for hepatitis C in terms of how well it works that if we were to treat everyone, we would be on the verge of eliminating it,” she says.

Those infected with the virus are rarely able to get rid of it on their own. Treatment used to take about a year and involved weekly injections.

“Most of the time people were incredibly sick,” says Barrett. “It was almost like chemotherapy for a year, and you had about a 50/50 shot of curing.”

New treatments recently approved by Health Canada are easier to take, have fewer side effects, and offer much better odds.

“It’s pills every day for about three months, sometimes a little longer, sometimes a little shorter. But about three months,” she says. “You take pills and at the end, more than 95 per cent of people are cured of their virus.”

Carla Densmore is the executive director of HepNS. She says the new drugs are a step in the right direction, but there are still plenty of challenges in treating the disease.

“About 44 per cent of Canadians who have hepatitis C don’t know they have it,” says Densmore. “So if you don’t know you have a condition, you don’t have the option for treatment."

“So that’s step one is to know that you’re positive or get screened or have one-time testing done,” says Barrett.

Another obstacle is access to care. It can be particularly difficult for those living in rural regions.

With that in mind, HepNS launched a new travel reimbursement program on Tuesday.

“We’ll be giving assistance to people who need to travel quite a distance, either for their health care appointments related to hepatitis, or for treatment appointments or testing,” says Densmore.

The medication can be expensive. Some expenses are covered, but not for everyone.

“They’re covered for people with more advanced liver disease and not for people with early liver disease,” says Barrett.

But Dr. Barrett says the ultimate goal is equal access for all.

“If we’re going to eliminate hepatitis C, we need to treat everybody who is infected and not just people who have late stage liver disease,” she says.

Offering new hope for a future that is hepatitis C free.