transmission of HCV

[mavblah]

Hello. My sister has HCV and apparently she spread some of her blood somehow onto our phone handset. I didn't see the blood until after I had picked up the phone and used it. The blood was dry and had been on the phone for around 18 hours. On the hand I was holding the handset with I have some very small cuts on the back of my fingers. These cuts were not scabbed over but not bleeding either. The cuts did not come in direct contact with the dried blood. I washed my hands immediately after I noticed the blood on the phone. So my question is what are the chances that I could have contracted the hepatitis C virus? Should I get tested? Thank you,
Jon

[working dog]

i posted about this a while ago...and some seem to say the virus can only live dry for a few days while others say up to 2 weeks..and from what i found out ..yes you can get hep c from dry blood if it is in contact with your blood..although i think it's a real long shot that you have it....billy

[mavblah]

I appreciate the reply. however I am very stressed out by this and would like to know if anyone has a definitive answer on if ,hypothetically, an open wound in contact with dried blood containing HCV would cause transmission; or would the blood have to be mixed with a liquid, such as water, to become contractible? thanks

[wyntre9]

As I understand it, the risks would be very low.  If I were in your situation, i probably would not be worried about getting the virus as blood to blood contact is necessary for infection to occur.  From what you describe, that didn't happen.

However, if you are concerned, I would get tested although I'm not sure what the incubation period for Hep-C is.

wyntre