Dating a person with Hepatitis C?

I am just beginning to date a lady with Hepatitis C. She acquired it a number years ago after a serious care accident. (100 units of blood) She was up front about it with me.
However, I have to wonder if it is advisable to start a romantic relationship? We are both close to 60, so, oral sex would be involved.

My question is simply, "Would you recommend to a friend that it would be okay to beginning dating a person with Hepatitis C?

[mikesimon]

Hep C is not an easily transmitted disease. It requires blood to blood contact. Sharing syringes is an obvious risk but so too is sharing razors and people warn about sharing toothbrushes. What you want to avoid is getting her blood into your blood. This rarely occurs in normal heterosexual monogamous sex.

Hep C is a virus that attacks the liver. Generally the damage from the disease takes a long time (maybe 20 to 30 years before significant liver damage is present) but different people can react quite differently. Excessive alcohol is associated with accelerated progression of liver damage and most doctors would recommend that Hep C patients abstain from alcohol.

Oral sex presents no risk of transmission if it is not extremely aggressive - biting etc.

New therapies to cure Hep C have recently become available and the odds of success have increased dramatically so that now a person is significantly more likely to cure Hep C than not. The therapy can take between 24 and 48 weeks and is not pleasant but the clearance of the virus makes it worth it for most people. If she hasn't looked into treatment now might be a very good time to investigate it with a doctor. It's much much better today for Hep C patients than it was just1 year ago - insofar as the odds and treatment duration are concerned.

If she doesn't get rid of the virus there is the distinct possibility that her health will decline more quickly than if she was Hep C negative. The liver can become damaged and that is not a good thing. The point is she has a chronic disease and if she does not treat and clear the disease the the disease will continue to do its damage.

Once you know what you're getting into only you can make that decision. If you said you had 2 equal women behind 2 doors and one of them had Hep C and the other had no chronic diseases I would advise you to choose the woman with no Hep C. Unfortunately life isn't like that so you have to make the decision. Assuming you are still in the early stages of the relationship I would ask her about her health and her plans regarding treatment. At least then you'll have a clearer idea of what you're getting into.

Good luck.
Mike