Hep C contact

[tiffb01]

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?

[tashka]

Don't they use disposable equipment for donating blood? I though everything has to be disposable now.

[kittyface]

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.

[Anne1717]

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.

[Deb9991]

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

[portann]

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

[Anne1717]

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.