HEP C - sexual transmission

can u get hep c through hetero sex contact?  i had a low risk exposure at work and may be concerned for my wife...can anyone give me any concrete info on this because it is hard to find good info on the net.  It seems like experts are a little unsure

[needhonesthelp]

i'm sorry to repeat but i really could use some help from everyone.  can you contract hep c thru hetero sex?  how likely?

[R Glass]

Hepc is transferred from blood to blood contact only. It is very unlikely to contract Hepc Thru normal sexual intercourse. However if you cannot be man enough to be faithful to your wife, you should at least be man enough to face the music and tell her. This will free you up to go do all the whoring around you want to without taking innocent victims down with you. If it sounds like I am judging you, it is because I am.

[needhonesthelp]

u misunderstood, i had blood splashed in my eye at work (med rep) and have been getting tested for hep c and hiv.  i want to make sure i don't put my wife at risk.  i'm coming up on my 3 mo tests and want to get my life back to normal.  i hope these tests are neg and just want to make sure i understand the hep c window period and if i did get, is it transmitted via sex.  

[alagirl]

that's what I thought you meant.  HCV is difficult to transmit sexually.  Since you only had a low risk exposure YOURSELF, its even less likely your wife would get it.

If your three months tests are negative I wouldn't even worry about it.

[jmjm530]

If the person had Hep C, it would be very unlikely you had it, even if sex was unprotected. Do you have reason to believe the person had Hep C? Only a very small part of the population does. So if you multiple the the chances of someone having Hep C by the chances of getting Hep C from a single encounter if if the person has Hep C -- you end up with almost no chance. What you should be concerned about, hower, are other STDs, which are far more common and transmissible. Get yourself a complete STD panel be sure. I"m assuming you didn't use condoms which is really dumb and even dumber if you're married. I'm assuming that because if you used condoms then you really have no risks and maybe are just feeling guilty.

[jmjm530]

Ah,on re-reading,  "low risk exposure". So maybe you're not even talking about intercourse. You have to be more specific.  But unless you did things that would make Jenna Jamison blush, you're probably OK, but an STD panel still wouldn't hurt.

[FlGuy]

Do you know if the owner of the splashing was hcv positive?  If so how do you know?

[jmjm530]

Sorry, I read your initial post like everyone else, because that's how it reads :)

FLGuy has a good point -- if possible, find out the medical history of the person who splashed you. You would think the doctor might share this with you, even if off the record, as I'm assuming this happened in a doctor's office.

If that's not possible, then you probably want to be tested again in another three months. Can't speculate on HIV transmission, but transmission to your wife would be uncommon (but not impossible) but that's assuming you are Hepatitis C positive which you hopefully aren't. BTW CDC guidelines don't recommend monagamous couples to use condoms even if one partner is Hep C positive, although some couples may elect to do so.

[needhonesthelp]

i don't know if the person had any infec diseases...there wasn't anything listed on their records but that doesn't mean they don't have anything because they may not have been tested.  i made the mistake of not making a big deal about the situation (which i regret) and the patient wasn't tested.  it has been really bothering me that i didn't handle this properly.  hopefully everything will be ok, but if something happened i just wanted to make sure i didn't endanger my wife.

what is the normal window period for HCV?  is this affected by coinfections like HIV?