Just to add the FDA does recommend all adults have a hepatitis c test done as a precaution. I am not a medical professional just a patient who lived with hepatitis c for many decades before effective treatments were found and I was finally cured. As dice I cannot offer medical advise.
For medical advice I would recommend discussing this with your personal physician and follow their recommendations.
How hepatitis C spreads
The virus spreads from direct contact with infected blood. This means that the blood of an infected person somehow gets inside the body of someone who, up to that point, wasn’t infected.
The most commonTrusted Source method of hepatitis C transmission is sharing needles or other equipment used to inject drugs. It can also spread in a healthcare setting, such as from an accidental needle stick. A mother can pass it to her baby during childbirth.
It’s less commonTrusted Source, but you can pick up the virus by sharing razors, toothbrushes, or other personal care items with an infected person.
It can also spread through sexual contact. This is more likely to occur if you:
have multiple sex partners
engage in rough sex
have a sexually transmitted disease
are infected with HIVTrusted Source
It’s possible that the virus can be transmitted during tattooing or body piercing if the practitioner doesn’t follow strict hygienic practices.
Since 1992, screening of the blood supply in the United States has kept hepatitis C from spreading during blood transfusion and organ transplants.
Learn more: Hepatitis C and HIV coinfection »
Ways hepatitis C doesn’t spread
The hepatitis C virus spreads through blood, but it isn’t known to spread through other bodily fluids.
It isn’t transmitted in food or water, or by sharing eating utensils or dishes with an infected person. You can’t spread it by casual contact such as hugging or holding hands. It’s not transmitted in a kiss, a cough, or a sneeze. Mothers with hepatitis C can safely breastfeed. Even mosquito and other insect bites won’t spread it.
In short, you have to come into direct contact with infected blood.
Would it be worth doing the rna PCR test sooner because I work with kids. Should I ask my doc for it?
How soon can a test detect Hep C?
People who have been very recently infected with HCV might not yet have developed antibody levels high enough to be detected by the anti-HCV test. The window period for acute HCV infection before the detection of antibodies averages 8 to 11 weeks, with a reported range of 2 weeks to 6 months.
The reason they suggest the long wait is because any test before 12 weeks is invalid. Waiting a full six months would ensure accurate testing.
That being said, hepatitis c is a blood borne illness meaning hepatitis c infected blood must enter the blood stream of an uninfected person. The most common method of transmission is the sharing of IV drug needles with an infected person.
Protected vaginal sex is not a risk for hepatitis C neither is oral sex. This is why the nurse suggested you move on.
While having sexual relations with multiple sex partners is a risk for hepatitis C it is a relatively small risk as hep C is not really considered to be a sexually transmitted illness.
As you took the hepatitis c test entirely too early to be of any diagnostic value it is up to you if you wish to wait the required time for initial testing of 3 to 6 months when you would basically be taking your first hep c test if any value.
But again unless there was a risk of hepatitis c infected blood entering your blood stream you are at limited risk from what you described.