Re: Contracting Hepatitis

Posted By c on March 23, 1999 at 22:54:28:

In Reply to: Re: Contracting Hepatitis posted by HFHSM.D.-D.M. on March 08, 1999 at 11:34:01:






: : I work in the property room of a police department where we frequently
: : dispose of bloody clothes, shoes, etc.  The blood on the clothes
: : generally is dried.  However, in some cases the bloody item may be mildly
: : damp because it was stored in a freezer and has defrosted.  The items are
: : stored in brown paper bags and we wear latex gloves when ever we dispose
: : of any item. Now, lets assume the blood on the clothes is from someone
: : that has heptatitis.  Half of us have heard it's not possible to contract the virus
: : because once the blood dries the virus is dead.  The other half of us
: : heard it is possible to contract the virus because it never dies. That
: : when we take the clothes out of the bag it's stored in this causes tiny
: : spores/particles of the dried blood to become airborne.  If we breathe them
: : in then we could contract hepatitis.  Is it possible to contract the hepatitis
: : virus in this manner?
: :  




Dear Jeanne:
I appreciate your questions because I feel it is one of my important responsibilities is to relay accurate information about the transmission of hepatitis.  
I know of absolutely no cases of hepatitis that were obtained from inhaling the blood of someone with hepatitis.  It is difficult to imagine any viral hepatitis would be spread this way.  Hepatitis A is obtained by ingesting the feces of some one infected with hepatitis A.  Transmission of hepatitis B and C require that an individuals blood (not lungs or stomach) come in contact with these viruses.  
If you are working with blood contaminated material, it might be wise for you to be vaccinated for hepatitis B if you have not been so far.  The vaccine is safe and effective.  There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but this virus requires direct blood to blood contact for transmission and you should not be at risk for this provided you are careful with needles and sharp items and practice basic safety guidelines.  
I hope this information is helpful to you.  If you have any additional questions or concerns, you can post them through MEDHELP or contact us directly at Henry Ford.  The direct number to our liver clinic is: [phone].  At Henry Ford, we have a very active group of hepatologists with a strong interest in the care and research of hepatitis C.
This response is being provided for general informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or consultation.  Always check with your personal physician when you have a question physician when you have a question pertaining to your health.









Dear Rick:
Thanks for your follow-up question to Jeannes question.  I appreciate the question because I probably was not as clear as I need to be and this is one area where we really do not want any misunderstanding.
You want to know what we mean when we say that transmission of hepatitis C requires direct blood to blood contact.  What we mean is that for an individual to obtain hepatitis C, infected blood has to get into their bloodstream.  For instance, you would not get hepatitis C if you got infected blood on an area of intact skin.  However, if you had an open cut on your skin and infected blood got into the cut you could potentially be infected.  Thats why transfusions and intravenous drugs are such effective ways of transmitting the virus.  Thats why sexual activity is not an efficient way of transmitting the virus though it is still possible.  
Now the subject of dried vs fresh blood is not completely cleared.  For the record, you should consider any blood (fresh or dried) to be potentially infectious.  I would suspect that blood that has dried recently to be infectious though I am not certain of this.  I am frequently asked how long can the hepatitis C virus live in dried blood.  We really dont have an answer to that because we would have to leave infected blood in the open for varying amounts of time and then try to infect chimpanzees (chimps and humans are the only species that can carry the hepatitis C virus to date).  Or we would need to find some one with hepatitis C who is certain that their only exposure was dried blood that had sat for a known interval.  I havent seen any information to that effect.  Again, I would assume that any blood is potentially infectious.  
I hope this information is helpful to you.  If you have any additional questions or concerns, you can post them through MEDHELP or contact us directly at Henry Ford.  The direct number to our liver clinic is: [phone].
This response is being provided for general informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or consultation.  Always check with your personal physician when you have a question physician when you have a question pertaining to your health.






Dear Dr,
Thanks for your informative web site.  This may sound petty, but I was wondering...
If you look at dried blood under then microscope can you see the virus particles?  If you look at liquid blood can you see
the virus particles?  So can't one put some water on dried blood and see if the particles move?