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Hep C contact

I was diagnosed with Hep C 2 months ago and I never did drugs or blood transfusion, what can be another way to contact it? I know sex is rare but could that be the only way?
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1240042 tn?1280334155
Just 2 years ago there was a case in Las Vegas about a clinic using dirty needles. Although, I'm sure the odds are slim about this type of thing happening, the fact is , it can and it has. Very Scary!


http://www.aegis.org/news/ap/2009/AP090208.html



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/28hepatitis.html
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Avatar universal
I have tatoos but I got my last tattoo 4 years a
go and since then I got a checkup, only I see is 2 years ago
I had breast reduction maybe that's how it was contracted. i
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87972 tn?1322661239
I think objective data on MSM (men who have sex with men) is frequently misleading; it often does a poor job of sorting through other comorbidities such as HIV, IDVU, etc. If you have supporting data for your claims, by all means include it in your thoughts. Otherwise, as Spectda says, statements like this can be hurtful to others. Much of the available data out there suggests that there is little difference in sexual transmission between straight and gay individuals once the playing field has been leveled--

--Bill

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/full/95/3/502

“Objectives. We studied the prevalence and incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the ongoing Omega Cohort Study of men who have sex with men (MSM).

Methods. From January to September 2001, consenting men (n = 1085) attending a follow-up visit to the ongoing Omega Cohort Study were tested for HCV. If the test results were positive for HCV, we compared them with test results from previous serum samples collected from the time of entry into the original cohort study to determine the time of infection.

Results. HCV prevalence at entry was 2.9% and was strongly associated with injection drug use (32.9% vs 0.3%, P<.0001). Only 1 seroconversion was identified in 2653 person-years of follow-up (incidence rate = 0.038 per 100 person-years). The seroconverter was an active injection drug user who reported needle sharing.

Conclusions. Sexual transmission of HCV among MSM appears to be rare.

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Avatar universal
Statements like yours are discriminatory and inflammatory.
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Avatar universal
What the heck.is homosexual sex? Do gay people have some sort of sex that heterosexuals can't have? Please explain.
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Avatar universal
now that they have lumped homosexual sex in with heterosexual sex - the numbers have spiked - hetero sex is only a few % - while the alternative can be 10 x that in homosexual men ---- also theres probably a statute of limitations on filing a lawsuit
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Avatar universal
Don't they use disposable equipment for donating blood? I though everything has to be disposable now.
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Avatar universal
If it was me I would relentlessly investigate the mystery transmission and sue the negligent party.  You can prove the timeframe in which you contracted it.  This is unacceptable.
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Avatar universal
There are just so many contingencies and 10% - 15% really is a lot of people.  If that were the percentage of parachutes that didn't open, there is no way most of us would jump out of a plane.
I never realized how long it lives undetected in your body and that there isn't a routine test for it.


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Avatar universal
There is that 10% to 15% who simply have no idea how they got it.  I heard of a nun who contacted the virus, and was totally shocked -- well, I would be too, if I were a nun who didn't even know what hepatitis C was -- actually, when I gave blood at work in 1994, and then got a letter from the Red Cross stating that I tested positive for HCV, I was pretty shocked too.  I'd heard of hepatitis, of course, but I had no idea 16 years ago what Hep C was and how it differed from other types.  I found out real quick after seeing a doctor.  I'm not one of the 10 - 15% who doesn't know.  

Just specualating here -- with that high of a percentage of those who don't know how they contacted this virus (and 10% to 15% is high), I'm led to suspect that something in the medical or dental field gave it to them.  Then again, it could be something totally out of the ordinary -- there is a good reason how they contacted this virus, it just needs to be found, if possible.  We know these percentages get this virus when their blood comes into contact with contaminated blood, just like the rest of us, but in an unusal way.  Outside of drug routes, blood transfusions, and maybe really kinky sex, the medical profession looks to be suspect.  I remember going to an ER about a year or two ago, for severe abdominal pains, and they brought in a man who had been in a fight, and there was blood all over the place.  I remembering thinking how easy it could be for splattered blood to splash into someone's eyes.  It was just a thought, but it is within the realm of possibiity.  Who knows -- but it is a scary mystery.  The only problem with the medical or dental route is if that is the case, then more people would test positive from that source, and they would be able to track it down -- maybe.  

Debbie
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Avatar universal
Hi Tiff and Anne,

Tiff, I'm wondering if all this input has given you a clue as to how you may have got it. Often, we can only make an educated guess.


Anne, I'd see if there is a possibility your HCV is linked to the blood transfusion. Let them know that you have no apparent risk factors, except possibly at the blood donation site itself. Maybe others in that time period are in the same boat.

I donated blood in 1969 when I was hitchhiking in southern Europe and reused apparatus  was the norm. I always thought that was a possible vector. Long lineups, mostly broke Americans looking for a few bucks.

BTW, although you didn't test positive in November, you could have had HCV at that time and the antibodies had not yet shown up in testing. More rarely, it could have been a false negative but I don't know much about that and its incidence.

Susan
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Avatar universal
heh heh -  I think the nurse who gave me the tetanus shot and the doctor were having an affair so she sticks all the eligible female patients with a contaminated syringe to eliminate them from the doctor's dating pool!!

Just joking - but the nurse and doctor having an affair apparently is true.

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179856 tn?1333547362
You know that sexual transmission number has got to be old I am absolutely positive I read a study recently that proved that the chance was almost completely null in monogamous couples.

Sorry my brain is stuck on it.

You know meakea perhaps the paraphenalia (for lack of better word) that they use to withdrawl the blood could in fact be the culprit. I haven't given blood in years (obviously) but it seems that the chance would be better than a disposable tetanus shot syringe (although god knows nothing surprises us any more). You might be on to something.

Mystery wish we had an answer for you just know the important thing is that you know you have it so you can take care of yourself!
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Avatar universal
Certainly could be but like you we will just never know.  Ugh!  You must have been a pretty sick baby to have to have a transfusion.
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Avatar universal
Anne...I got to thinking...you said the only thing after your blood donation was a tetanus shot...well, what about the blood donation itself???   Makes one wonder...
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Avatar universal
lol - I can't even claim this route either !!
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179856 tn?1333547362
PS the reason i dont quite agree with this 3% via transfusion is that most people who have hep dont even know they have it yet and most are in our age group of baby boomers.....so it seems to me it would be likely since we were all around before the blood supply was in check.

That was my thinking on the subject.
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179856 tn?1333547362
I believe we always heard it was like 3% and I've never seen anyone in here who infected their partner via sex.  The doctor explained to me that the reason they said it was sexually transmittable was that in the olden days they assumed people with HCV were more ,uh, active and practiced wilder unsafe sex with multiple partners.

I had to laugh I guess that makes us all a pretty rowdy bunch huh?
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Avatar universal
mk_

3% Risk factor for Blood transfusion sounds low on the historical data on patients with chronic infection from past decades but with improved HCV screening practices in blood donations, is it a lower risk factor now these days?

Re: 10% on sexual activity, I think these numbers comes from wider range of studies in different contexts (multiple partner, sex workers, MSM, std coinfections,...etc) since sexual activity is a broader subject.  
I believe the risk of transmission between long term partners should be much much lower.

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"
>Sexual exposures account for about 15 percent of cases of Hepatitis C. Although the risk for >transmitting HCV infection through sexual intercourse is low, sex is a common behavior in the general population, a substantial proportion of the adult population has had unprotected sex with multiple partners, and there are a large number of persons with HCV infection. While other types of exposures are more likely to transmit HCV (e.g., transfusion from an infected donor), they account for a smaller proportion of infections because of the relatively small proportion of the population in whom these exposures have occurred.
"
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HCV/Strategy/NatHepCPrevStrategy.htm


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"
>Sexual Activity. Case-control studies have reported an association between exposure to a sex >contact with a history of hepatitis or exposure to multiple sex partners and acquiring hepatitis C (40,41). In addition, 15%-20% of patients with acute hepatitis C who have been reported to CDC's sentinel counties surveillance system, have a history of sexual exposure in the absence of other risk factors. Two thirds of these have an anti-HCV-positive sex partner, and one third reported greater than 2 partners in the 6 months before illness (2).

In contrast, a low prevalence of HCV infection has been reported by studies of long-term spouses of patients with chronic HCV infection who had no other risk factors for infection. Five of these studies have been conducted in the United States, involving 30-85 partners each, in which average prevalence of HCV infection was 1.5% (range: 0% to 4.4%) (56,82-85).
"
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00055154.htm
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Avatar universal
yeah - scary - no dentist - do not have manicures/pedicures - do have eyebrows waxed occasionally and that tetanus shot  - that's it.  

It certainly has been an eye opener for me, my family and friends.  

And I know it is not simply a drug addicts disease - my best friends are RN'S and they always feel as though they are dodging a bullet

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179856 tn?1333547362
That IS too scary - you didn't go to the dentist in the last year or anything like that? A manicure or pedicure? What else is there that we can think of ........ not too much.  I agree with meakea the public just has no idea how many of them could be infected thinking "oh that is a drug addict disease" when most certainly it's not just that at all.
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Avatar universal
I absolutely agree ! Not even not an obvious source - no source unless it was that tetanus shot.   I cannot even imagine how many people may have it and not know.

If I have it - ANYONE can.  Truly - if you knew my lifestyle, you would liken this to the immaculate conception !  lol   I know it is rare to be able to pinpoint a time frame and the only reason I can is the blood giving - O neg so I try to often.

But it goes to show that maybe we don't know as much as we think we know about hep c

Everyone should be tested
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Avatar universal
Wow, Anne, that's pretty scary that you recently got Hep C without having any obvious source.  You are continued proof that Hep C is out there and further proof that the published risk factors and odds of contracting Hep C are pure BS!  I get irritated every time I read "odds" BS being put out there because it gives the general public a false sense of security.  
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Avatar universal
also - I have LFT's every year since I am on thyroid medication  -  ALT and AST are always below 10 - this time they were very high
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