Can Hep C be dormant for over a year post exposure

[dory122]

Can a person be exposed to Hep C (through a razor cut from a Hep C positive patient in a hospital setting) in November of 2008 and it not show up until Feb. 2010? A co-worker/friend of mine was shaving a patient and cut herself. The patient turned up HepC positive and my friend has just recently (02/10) been hospitalized with acute Hep C. This is the first she was told she had Hep C and our facility is refusing workman's comp. because they state the dates are too far apart from exposure to the positive test. Her physician told her that her  Hep C was acute not chronic therefore the exposure would have had to happen within the prior two-three months not over a year ago. She is now having financial trouble due to the witholding of workman's comp. benefits. She is hesitant to get a lawyer and fight because her doctors are telling her the dates are not compatable with the illness. She filled out an incident report on the date of the accident/razor cut and all of this is in her records at the hospital. Can the virus be dormant for that long and then go into an acute Hep C exacerbation? I am going with her to her next doctors appt. and would love some help with this. Any expertise or articles to carry with me would be beneficial if her Hep C could have been present and not detected. Than you so much.

[copyman]

I would question the acute diagnosis. She may have been exposed with that razor incident and may be sick from a different hepatitis or something else altogether. HCV can lay dormant for a long period of time sometimes 20-30 yrs. This happens after an acute stage that some experience and some never get.

I would have her get the opinion of a board certified "Hepatologist" (liver specialist) then she would have ammunition to fight workman's comp.

Good luck to your friend

[nygirl7]

Her physician told her that her  Hep C was acute not chronic therefore the exposure would have had to happen within the prior two-three months not over a year ago."

If they are told they are in acute phase that means the past six months TOPS they were exposed.  No longer or they would be chronic.  many of us never get acute phase symptoms - they can be extremely drastic so it would be  pretty apparent.

Also  the chance of an exposure of what you are talking about with the razor blade the chances are VERY slim that it would have been something like that.  

Understand, some people do not do drugs or have a transfusion or get a tattoo or piercing or anything and still have hepc.  How why where is all a huge question to them and always will be.

[Bill1954]

Hi Dory,

You’re suggesting a period of what, 14-15 months from supposed exposure to onset of symptoms and subsequent diagnosis of acute HCV? That’s really stretching the timeframe, as the doctors have already told her.

First of all, you said the patient “…turned up HepC positive…”; do you know if this patient was ever tested for active, RNA virus, or was he/she seropositive (antibody)only?

And while it’s probably positive for someone to become infected by a razor cut, it’s an inefficient mode of transmission; subcutaneous transmission is thought to be around 1.8% in health care setting for needlstick incidents:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Needle stick Risk for Occupational Transmission of HCV
HCV is not transmitted efficiently through occupational exposures to blood. The average incidence of anti-HCV seroconversion after accidental percutaneous exposure from an HCV-positive source is 1.8% (range: 0%--7%) (73--76), with one study indicating that transmission occurred only from hollow-bore needles compared with other sharps (75).
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5011a1.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not sure, but it seems that a razor cut would be roughly equivalent in nature to needle stick in regards to transmission.

I think coinfection with HIV (along with other immunocomprimized individuals) can be responsible for delayed seroconversion; she’s not HIV positive as well, is she? It seems as though dialysis might be responsible to delayed seroconversion as well, but I’m unsure of that. If she is a dialysis patient, it might be worth looking into also.

I imagine she’ll find this difficult to pursue; as a health care worker, what other risks might she have been associated with?

Interesting; I’d be curious to know how this turns out. Good luck to all—

Bill