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Am I at risk
After dating my boyfriend for over a year, I've discovered through paperwork in his filing cabinet that he has hep c. When confronted, he said it was from drug use as a teenager and can not me transmitted through sex. There are many different theories online about this, and I am panicking. What is the truth.
I'm sorry you had to go through all this, and that your partner didn't inform you he had HCV, that was horribly selfish of him, and he could have easily spread it to you if you so much as mixed up your two razors one day or both cut yourself with a particularly sharp kitchen tool. From the studies I've seen and from the direct advice given to me and my husband, the actual risk of sexual transmission is FAR less than 3%. I don't remember the numbers I've heard because they were so low as to be statistically equivalent to zero. My HCV was one of the earliest cases diagnosed, as I'd previously been diagnosed with non-A/non-B hepatitis for several years, and I was immediately sent to one of the top early HCV researchers. My doctor also was studying the transmission of the virus and he took blood samples and really thorough history of my husband as part of this study. We had been married for 10 years already at that time, and had an extremely active sexual relationship which barely slowed down for menses. After he completed his study we were told the risk of transmission via sex or via any bodily fluids other than blood was essentially zero and were advised that sexual precautions were completely unnecessary, but that we did need to be careful with blood. We started being cautious with sex around menses (but only then). My husband doesn't shave, so there was never any risk from accidentally sharing a razor, and he already did most of the cooking so there was little risk from kitchen accidents. We've been cautious about any accidental cuts I might get, and I've always extended that courtesy to everyone, everywhere, never allowing anyone to provide first aid or to draw blood without warning them. I'm so committed to the effort not to spread it that I used to actually have recurrent nightmares about being in a bloody accident but being unconscious and unable to warn any good Samaritans!
My hepatologist gave us that advice about 23 years ago. My husband has been tested regularly with his physicals and is negative each time. There may have been an occasional researcher who gets slightly higher transmission numbers, but I think the overwhelming majority of studies have confirmed that HCV is not sexually transmitted. Your HCV probably arose from some other as yet undiscovered source.
A quick googling of "risk sexual transmission hepatitis c" came up with a 2004 report which followed 895 HCV patients who had sex an average of 1.8 times per week. Over 10 years time a total of 3 of the partners of these patients acquired HCV, but genetic analysis of their virus ruled out the possibility that any of these 3 infections had been acquired from their infected partner, so in the end zero were transmitted sexually. I also tried googling "proven sexual transmission hepatitis c", but couldn't readily find any papers that purport to show sexual transmission, except in cases of co-infection with HIV. Any evidence of sexual transmission appears to be purely circumstantial, as in they can't find any other sure method of transmission. I think that kind if evidence could just as easily be twisted to "prove" transmission by just about anything.
I just wanted to clarify this in case someone new to the illness might read this thread. It is depressing enough to get this diagnosis without feeling like one has to also give up sex. It's critically important to INFORM your prospective partner before having sex with them, but the best evidence shows that sexual transmission is damn unlikely if not impossible. The fact that no one can prove that sexual transmission is never possible under any circumstances means that you must allow your partner to make their own decision, but you don't have to feel like a pariah while telling them, as many people acquire it in many quite innocent ways. You are only a pariah if you DON'T tell them first.
My hepatologist gave us that advice about 23 years ago. My husband has been tested regularly with his physicals and is negative each time. There may have been an occasional researcher who gets slightly higher transmission numbers, but I think the overwhelming majority of studies have confirmed that HCV is not sexually transmitted. Your HCV probably arose from some other as yet undiscovered source.
A quick googling of "risk sexual transmission hepatitis c" came up with a 2004 report which followed 895 HCV patients who had sex an average of 1.8 times per week. Over 10 years time a total of 3 of the partners of these patients acquired HCV, but genetic analysis of their virus ruled out the possibility that any of these 3 infections had been acquired from their infected partner, so in the end zero were transmitted sexually. I also tried googling "proven sexual transmission hepatitis c", but couldn't readily find any papers that purport to show sexual transmission, except in cases of co-infection with HIV. Any evidence of sexual transmission appears to be purely circumstantial, as in they can't find any other sure method of transmission. I think that kind if evidence could just as easily be twisted to "prove" transmission by just about anything.
I just wanted to clarify this in case someone new to the illness might read this thread. It is depressing enough to get this diagnosis without feeling like one has to also give up sex. It's critically important to INFORM your prospective partner before having sex with them, but the best evidence shows that sexual transmission is damn unlikely if not impossible. The fact that no one can prove that sexual transmission is never possible under any circumstances means that you must allow your partner to make their own decision, but you don't have to feel like a pariah while telling them, as many people acquire it in many quite innocent ways. You are only a pariah if you DON'T tell them first.
"A very low risk" does not = hep C isn't transmitted sexually. It means if you didn't get it from your partner who is infected you were lucky because you could have. And I did. And I discussed the pain I had with my doctors and they are the ones who told me it was most likely the infection From Hep C that I was mistaking for something else. And when infected with Hep C people do get symptoms most people just blow them off as something else. In the first 6 months of infection it's very common to have flu like symptoms. AND I DID. I was very aware that something was wrong.
But I find it funny how people who are infected always want to minimize the disease and insist sex is safe. It's actually not. I know exactly where when and how I caught this disease so I'm just sharing my experience here. I think we all think "it won't happen to me" but when it does... If you take the chance with a partner and give it to them.. Then what will you say? Oh wow!!! Sorry!! I guess your one of the 3%! My bad!!!??? I just think as the infected person it's so imp to take responsibility and be careful. My partner didn't tell me. He didn't give me the opportunity to choose what to do....
Best of luck to all of you. And I hope each of you that is infected has the easiest time possible on treatment and that you achieve SVR. But don't fool yourselves or your partners they can get it from you and if they haven't YET they are lucky.
But I find it funny how people who are infected always want to minimize the disease and insist sex is safe. It's actually not. I know exactly where when and how I caught this disease so I'm just sharing my experience here. I think we all think "it won't happen to me" but when it does... If you take the chance with a partner and give it to them.. Then what will you say? Oh wow!!! Sorry!! I guess your one of the 3%! My bad!!!??? I just think as the infected person it's so imp to take responsibility and be careful. My partner didn't tell me. He didn't give me the opportunity to choose what to do....
Best of luck to all of you. And I hope each of you that is infected has the easiest time possible on treatment and that you achieve SVR. But don't fool yourselves or your partners they can get it from you and if they haven't YET they are lucky.
"I was dating a man who did not tell me he had in until way into the relationship and all the while he was having unprotected sex with me"
Just say NO
Just say NO
Must have been an interesting conversation: "When I was going through you personal papers in you filing cabinet I found out you had HCV" I guess you both learned something about each other.....
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