Am I at risk for contracting Hepatitis C? 3 days ago I had several potential transmission events with a woman of unknown HCV status, but in a risk group for it (been in prison, homeless, DIY tatoos & sex worker). Over the course of several hours we shared 6 pipe hits of methamphetamine from a glass crack pipe, with post-hit mouth-to-mouth smoke sharing. Additionally, we made an improvised pipe for smoking pot out of a soda can that we back-and-forth shared 4 times. We did not have any contact outside of that shared drug use. I thought nothing of potential transfer events at the time, but I've since found this paper which reports: out of 51 crack users, 22 were positive for the HCV antibody, 1 of their total 51 pipes tested positive for hepatitis C; the pipe that tested positive for Hep C came from a user with oral sores (Fischera 2007). I frequently bite my lips, and they were definitely chapped that day. The glass pipe we shared had no sharp edges, BUT the soda can pop tab was sharp. I didn't notice any blood, but I am a nervous wreck about the whole thing ... thinking maybe there were tiny cuts and minuscule blood transfer happened. Am I being crazy? How likely is a transfer in this event? I know that needlestick transfer events result in Hep C transfer only 1.8% of the time (according to the CDC). Can someone give me an unbiased opinon on all of this? This is the most reckless thing I've ever done ...
Fischera 2007 Hepatitis C virus transmission among oral crack users: viral detection on crack paraphernalia
http://www.ohrdp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Fischer2007.pdf
CDC Exposure to Blood Pamphlet http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/pdfs/bbp/Exp_to_Blood.pdf