Ontario man walks in for COVID-19 vaccine, leaves with life-saving diagnosis
Fifty-three year-old Mike Mansor recently walked into a COVID-19 immunization clinic for a life-saving vaccine and walked away with a life-saving diagnosis—having received not just a jab to the arm, but a prick to the finger.
The Toronto resident had vowed to prioritize his health after quitting heroin at the beginning of the year, when his partner suffered an overdose scare involving fentanyl.
“It feels like something that’s going to be more permanent, and so I decided that it is probably the best time to start treating myself well,” Mansor told CTV Toronto.
And so he jumped at the chance to take a rapid antibody test for Hepatitis C after receiving his COVID-19 vaccination at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) a month ago. The University Health Network’s Viral Hepatitis Care Network (VIRCAN) had set up a pop-up screening booth there, and was offering the five-minute test to people waiting the required 15 minutes in the vaccine aftercare area.
“As straightforward as it can be,” Mansor said of the process, which involved a quick test of a blood drop drawn from his fingertip.
The initial result revealed that he had been exposed to the hepatitis C virus, and a subsequent blood sample confirmed his liver disease.
Hepatitis C is often dubbed "a silent killer," since half of people infected don’t know they have the virus until it is quite advanced.
“It typically will have no symptoms, and a diagnosis is only made by active screening,” Dr. Hemant Shah, a liver specialist with the University Health Network told CTV Toronto.
Mike Mansor, right, is receiving life-saving treatment after being diagnosed with Hepatitis C following a rapid antibody test at the CAMH COVID-19 vaccine clinic. (Natalie Johnson/CTV News Toronto)
“By the time you develop symptoms from Hepatitis C, it’s usually very late in the disease course, and we want to identify people much much earlier so we can give them curative treatments.”
Untreated Hepatitis C can lead to liver cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver cancer. It is also the leading cause of liver transplantation in the world—but is curable with treatment.
The VIRCAN screening pop-up has been operating at the CAMH COVID-19 vaccine clinic since mid-May, and has already identified 26 positive exposures among 2020 people tested.
The initiative has been designed to boost preventative care for the virus, which declined significantly during the pandemic. The World Health Organization has estimated that an additional 72,000 deaths will occur by 2030 among people with chronic hepatitis C infections that were undiagnosed due to the testing slowdown.
“Point of care testing really allows us to do screening for Hepatitis C in non-traditional settings such as a vaccine clinic,” Dr. Renee Logan, CAMH’s infection prevention and control medical director said Wednesday,
“This really allows us to bring screening to people who may otherwise have barriers to traditional health care.”
People deemed to be high-risk of contracting hepatitis include those who have used injection drugs, those who received blood or blood products or an organ transplant before July 1990 in Canada, or those who have been injected or scratched during a vaccination, surgery, or blood transfusion in regions where the virus is common, according to the Canadian Liver Foundation.
Treatment for the disease is often as simple as oral medication taken for up to 12 weeks; Mansor, who is now receiving this medication, credits it as his cure.
“I want to start treating myself well,” he said Wednesday, which is also World Hepatitis Day. “So I start with the most obvious route, which is to get rid of my Hep C infection.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Shooting outside of Drake's Bridle Path mansion, 1 person seriously injured: source
Toronto police are investigating a shooting that took place outside of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion early Tuesday morning, a source tells CP24.
King Charles too busy to see son Prince Harry during U.K. trip
Prince Harry will not be seeing his father King Charles during his current visit to Britain as the monarch will be too busy, Harry's spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Your body needs these three forms of movement every week
Movement is movement, right? Not exactly. Here’s what your body is looking for in addition to your morning walk or yoga session, according to experts.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
Quebec to limit sperm donations per donor after 3 men from same family father hundreds of children
Quebec is looking at tightening the regulations around sperm donation in the province following the release of a documentary that revealed three men from the same family fathered hundreds of children.
How to overcome 'savings guilt' when you're living paycheque to paycheque
As the higher cost of living continues to squeeze household budgets, many Canadians find they have even less left over at the end of every month to squirrel away for the future.
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.