Hepatitis C

Question: At what temperature will the Hepatitis C virus be inactivated? I would like to disinfect utensils and dishes that are used by persons who have hepatitis C, perhaps using a dishwasher. Bleach has been said to be an effective way of killing the virus, but this is impractical for dishes and eating utensils. Is it possible at temperatures reachable by a dishwasher to inactivate the hepatitis C virus? But if a person were to bleed just a bit onto utensils or dishes, that would be a big risk. Hence, back to my original question.

Answer: Relax. The first answer was correct. You can not get hepatitis C that way. It is not transmitted by saliva or by casual contact. You can not get hepatitis C by sharing eating utensils, dishes, or drinking glasses, and you can not get it from any other casual contact. Hepatitis C is transmitted by infected blood. You would need to get infected blood INTO your bloodstream through a bleeding wound or a needle stick. (It is most commonly transmitted by sharing needles for drug use.) The only precautions you need to take when living with someone who has hepatitis C are: Do not share razors or toothbrushes with people who have Hep C, as these items could have blood on them, and the virus could stay alive on them for up to 4 days. Also, when helping someone who has hepatitis C deal with a bleeding injury, always wear gloves. As I said above, you can not get hepatitis C from sharing eating utensils, dishes, or drinking glasses, or by kissing, or by casual contact. It is not transmitted by saliva. It is only transmitted by blood.

Question: How common is it to contract hepatitis c from sharing straws (or other devices) to snort drugs such as cocaine? How common is it to contract hepatitis c from sharing devices to snort drugs such as bills or straws?

Answer: Not all that common, but a definite "at risk" behavior. First there has to be an HCV infection in the one who passes you the straw, bill, etc. Then they have to have either a burned nasal passage to allow blood products to get on bill, or a sinus infection that is fairly severe. The final step is that you must also have an open sore in your nasal passages. The CDC claims documented cases are on file. The question really isn't how common it is, the real question is can you get HCV this way, and the answer is yes. It is senseless to put yourself at risk when it is easily avoided. Buy a pop at Micky D's and cut the straw into several lengths and keep them in your wallet, purse, etc. If you can't resist the temptation you'll at least have a clean uninfected straw. If someone grabs it to use, don't pick it back up just get out a new one for your own use. The problem you face is that many people have HCV without being aware of it. You can get a stainless steel brake line at about any auto parts shop, it's usually about 2 - 3 feet long so cut yourself off some pieces, and don't let anyone use them but you. It will set you back a whopping $5.00, claim it's silver, or a special gift, whatever. Just don't share it. Don't use bills anytime. HIV dies with exposure to air, HCV is a different little beastie. It can last days in the open without moisture and still infect you, the odds may be long in picking it up off a bill, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. People seem to be getting complacent about HCV (Hep C), it doesn't kill quick so it's impact on one's life is overlooked. It's true that there are better treatments than ever before, but as I and many like me can tell you, there are still non-responders to the treatments. If you want to see the end result visit someone waiting for a transplant, or worse yet, someone who is in end stage liver disease and is too weak to qualify for a transplant. It's a long, drawn out, painful, flat out ugly way to die.

Question: How long does a person live with hepatitis C? I have a friend who has Hepatitis C and has had it for years and her liver is severely damaged from it. She did not respond the the interferon treatment to kill the virus. What are the next steps? How long would she be expected to live?

Answer: a person can live a long time with hcv infection-however, quality of life can be severely affected. i would have your friend look into the latest in what treatment has to offer. the medication is called infergon and used in combination with ribavirin-your friends got a good chance of responding. as always hcv is a complex disease, so she would have to qualify for medications. as for the poster who stated interferon only reduces the hcv virus? that is a false statement. many of those who have a sustained viral response have no active virus-even after a follow up biopsy. those who responded and are sustained well over after a year post antiviral chemotherapy are considered cured. as with any virus, they can return, but studies are suggesting that a SVR beyond a year means "cured". I am post 5 years antiviral chemotherapy and along with many of my peers in the hcv community, we are living proof. again, have your friend ask about infergon. there are other medications that are showing great promise as well , so have her ask her doctor about the latest in hcv trials. good luck to her and tell her to watch what she eats. no alcohol of anykind as well as iron laden foods. sugar kept a minimum as well as artificial, oct meds and drink plenty of water if she cannot tolerate tea or coffee (panic attacks have been caused by a back up of caffiene in the body due to a damaged liver). support your friend...hcv can cause a whooplah of complications and bi-directional diseases. she should be taking milk thistle if her enzymes are elevated (alt and ast).

Question: How do you get hepatitis c from hands? I'm interested in getting a tattoo and people are saying that you can get hepatitis c from dirty hands? But, doesn't the tattoo artist wear gloves? I am confused.

Answer: You got good answers here from many people, but yes you can get HCV from dirty hands, it depends on what the substance was that made them dirty. Whoever told you all this either didn't want you to get a tat, has only seen tat artists while in jail / prison, or has watched too many movies. Most tat artists don't want HCV any more than you do, they have all kinds of measures to take to prevent it. Most have been covered here, but I still make sure that only the amount of dye needed for that day's work on me is mixed up. That way I know the dye is clean too. Now back to dirty hands. In jail / prison, and old movies you see the artist wipe the excess die and blood off the tat so that it's easier to see the progress. That would leave all kinds of blood products on the hands, even if it's rinsed or wiped off, you don't need to see it for it to be there. These days though the use of disposable gloves and disposable wipes takes that out of the process. If someone tries to put a back alley tat on you, just GO AWAY. There is no reason to put yourself in jeopardy when there are professionals out there to get a tat from. P.S. Take a disposable towel with you to put down on any support surface (chair back, etc.), most clean these surfaces, but it takes a minimum of 10% bleach solution to kill HCV, and it can live on a surface not cleaned with bleach for 3 - 7 days. I know you aren't hearing this from the others, but I've had HCV for 30+ years. I focus on the possible transmission areas, most focus on the odds of getting it. P.P.S. My ex & oldest two kids are clear - no HCV, so is my present wife and two younger kids. I may recommend more safety measures than are absolutely needed, but I prefer to not meet more people new to dealing with this sh*t.

Question: How many people in the united states have hepatitis c ? I have a family member with hepatitis c and I am sure that person is not alone ,how can I help this person and were is a web site to find out info,plus support,any health tips?

Answer: There are 4 million reported cases in the US but the number is much closer to 5. One of the best online support groups I found after being diagnosed was http://www,dailystrength.com They have a place where you can talk to doctors, journal online privately or public, add photos, videos, a discussion board, and much more. I made some wonderful friends there. I have advanced to liver cancer and can't travel so several of them came to Kentucky to meet me from all over the US in April. We had a wonderful time. There are some great people there and someone can answer your question because I guarantee either someone has been where your family member is or will be. Also, there are over 500 communitees there so if they do start dealing with other issues such as cirrhosis there is a support group for that too. Currently the hepatitis c group has many members. I have a couple of videos about HCV they may want to watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4TCo-qVoKk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOGrMR4bi3w God Bless.

Question: How risky is it to lose your virginity to someone who has Hepatitis C? I know it's very rare to get Hepatitis C from sex, but what if you lose your virginity to someone who has it?

Answer: You are right. It is very rare to catch HCV from unprotected sexual intercourse. Some of the other answers are way off the mark! HCV transmission, outside of using contaminated syringes for injecting drugs or mother to child, is NOT easy. Even if there is KNOWN HepC+ blood in a syringe and there is a needlestick injury, HCV will only transmit about 1.9% of the time....just to give you an idea. There have also been long term studies looking at serodiscordant (one poz, one neg) in monogomous relationships and found that after a long period of time with regular unprotected sexual activity, less than 5% had transmitted it to their partners. A condom should absolutely be worn to protect yourself from a variety of other infections that can cause illness and disease and affect the quality of your life. The condom will also reduce the already small risk for HCV transmission to practically nil. So, condoms should definitely be used Please ignore the answer from hatshe... s/he is misinformed about Hep C. While HCV can be deadly, it often isn't. The answer seems to paint a very disturbing (and I would argue, inaccurate) picture of HCV.

Question: What are the effects of drinking alcohol when having Hepatitis C? My grandmother has Hepatitis C and is an alcoholic and I am going to send her a letter to tell her what happens when drinking with the infection.

Answer: She could add acute alcoholic hepatitis to the hep c. The liver is already having trouble when either of the conditions are present-alcoholism or hep c. Maybe she is trying to speed up the process. Either of these diseases are depressing and she may feel hopeless and helpless. Maybe think about getting the family together to tell her how much you all care about her and are concerned for her health. There is a lot of info online about interventions.

Question: Is it any connections between hepatitis C and sore throat, coughing, ear infections? I read an article about Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. He had a throat surgery last spring and hepatitis C treatment. What kind of throat surgery it may be?

Answer: While hep c does affect organs other than your liver, it is unlikely that the sore throat, coughing, etc are from hep c.

Question: How likely are you to get Hepatitis C through a scratch? someone I know got scratched by someone with Hepatitis C, she has had precautionary bloods etc but what are the chances do you think?

Answer: Unless the person who scratched the other person had her own blood go into the cut then the chances are zero! Hepatitis C is a blood born disease. Meaning THE BLOOD FROM AN INFECTED PERON HAS TO ENTER THE BLOODSTREAM OF A NON INFECTED PERSON FOR TRANSMISSION TO OCCUR!!!!!!!

Question: How common is it to get hepatitis c from a tattoo gun? How common is it to get hepatitis c from a tattoo gun (not the needle)?

Answer: it's not all that uncommon. hcv infected blood-whether dried or wet can transmit. dry blood lives much longer than any well known virus. all it takes is the right circumstances-a drop of dried blood unseen to the naked eye can fall off of the gun while the tattoo is being done-and can enter the blood stream where it can reconstitute. no matter how many gloves are worn, cross contamination DOES happen. statistics say one in ten can acquire the virus through tattoos as a whole. researchers found that those who had a tattoo had a 6.5-fold higher risk of testing positive for hepatitis C than other subjects. however, infected subjects with tattoos were not at increased risk for acute hepatitis symptoms compared with their peers without tattoos. most new infections these days are sharing drug paraphenalia (7.2%) and veterans (a 1-3 chance)

Question: hepatitis c? I have hepatitis c. If I am scratched by my cat and she scratches my loved ones or anybody else can it be transmitted to them or to the cat?

Answer: I have never heard of a case transmitted that way, but I suppose in theory it could happen. That's why we don't want to share toothbrushes and razors with other people in the household. Hep C virus can live outside the human body for an extended time (some sources say 4 days, some say 7). Best wishes.

Question: How can I get treatment for Hepatitis C without insurance? I need to get interferon treatment for Hepatitis C. I got via a blood transfusion in Mexico after a car accident. (Thats what we figure anyway) Thank you for the info>>> Have a great day...

Answer: Ask your doctor about a study trial. The makers of the medications needed for treatment are expensive, so there is a program for those medications if you enlist or are a good candadite for treatment. ASK the doctor- he or she should know how to go about getting you approved for antiviral chemotherapy. :O) www.scheringplough.com (genotypes known to treat easier) www.infergen.com (harder to treat genotypes)

Question: what are my chances of contracting hepatitis c from my boyfriend? i live with my boyfriend who has hepatitis c. what are my chances of me or my daughter of contracting the disease from him?

Answer: The most common route of transmission of HCV in the US is by snorting drugs or by IV drugs. (yes, snorting cocaine is a very effective way of spreading hepatitis). It is very difficult to spread hepatitis c by sexual contact. (but perhaps not impossible). Avoid sharing needles, razors, toothbrushes as all are associated with blood letting. Touching his blood with intact skin will not transmit the disease. You should be vaccinated for hepatitis A and B. You can get checked for hepatitis for free by merely donating blood. Your boyfriend should be tested for HIV as well.

Question: How can I have Hepatitis C if I haven't had a single symptom in 28 years? I was born in 1981 and as I was a very sick newborn, I got more than one blood transfusion. Two years ago I got tested and they said I had Hepatitis C. how is it possible I could live with this for 28 years and it not be found in my blood and not have a single symptom? Before i was told i had it, I had two sexual partners and they were virgins.

Answer: Hepatitis C is not passed through sex. It is only passed blood to blood. You probably did get it with your blood transfusion (unless you were having bloody sex). It is possible to have a *false positive* in that you will test positive for the antibodies but if you cleared the Hep C on your own (30% of people will do that) you will have the positive test. You need to have a follow up confirmatory test called a PCR/viral load to see if you have an "active" case of Hep C. I had Hep C for 40 years before they found it. My only symptom was fatigue (and not that extreme as I was working two jobs) which I thought was because I was 50. Turned out I already had cirrhosis when they did the biopsy in 1997. It is a SLOW progressing disease so don't get panicky over your viral load test results if they come back positive (and in the millions). We are not an *exclusive club*. We have people all ages, shapes, sizes, colors and sex, etc. We have a good group for support and questions on Yahoo called HepCingles2. Please consider joining us and asking any questions that you like and get some needed support. There are many good websites on the internet with lots of good Hep C information. You can find most of them at http://www.hepcnetwork.org Get to your doctor and have that follow up test and find out what he/she recommends as far as treatment. Depending on your genotype, you can have a 50-80% success rate of clearing the Hep C virus. It is easier on the body to do treatment while you are younger and in the earlier stages than to wait until you have cirrhosis. All this, of course, is IF you have Hep C by doing the PCR/viral load test. Good luck!

Question: What effects does Hepatitis C have on the brain? What effects does Hepatitis C have on the brain? I have been recently diagnosed and I worry that my virus may affect my future education and career plans. I am very worried that I will suffer brain impairment and will therefore lose functioning and/or memory. I am aware of the damage to the liver and I was also wondering if the infection of the liver has any correlation to brain impairment.

Answer: This is in the worst cases: Hepatic encephalopathy (sometimes hepatoencephalopathy) is a potentially-reversible neuropsychiatric abnormality in the setting of liver failure, whether chronic (as in cirrhosis), or acutely. It can be diagnosed only after exclusion of other neurological, psychiatric, infectious, and metabolic etiologies. With severe liver impairment, toxic substances normally removed by the liver accumulate in the blood and impair the function of brain cells. If there is also portal hypertension, and subsequent bypassing of the liver filtration system of blood flowing in from the intestines, these toxic substances can travel directly to the brain, without being modified or purified. Signs can include impaired cognition, a flapping tremor (asterixis), and a decreased level of consciousness including coma (hepatic coma or coma hepaticum), cerebral edema, and, ultimately, death. Stephanie- Thank you for adding. I am just sorry it is due to your personal experience. It is nice of you to share your experience with others so they may learn from it. I wish the best for all of you!

Question: Hi, what are the chances of getting Hepatitis C Virus from a needle prick? My girlfriend was scrubbing in on a case. While she was putting sutures on the patient, she accidentally pricked herself. They tested the patient's blood for HIV and came out negative. Now the only concern is Hepatitis C. The patient's viral count was high at this point and I'm wondering what are her chances of getting this virus? She will be getting tested over the next 6 months, and those 6 months will be extremely worrisome for the both of us.

Answer: Don't let it worry you too much, even if she did get it - treat early and she will be fine. It probably won't show up for another 6 months if it just happened recently. It's not the end of the world. It cannot be transmitted sexually, unless there is blood involved. Today's treatment is no walk in the park but it works well if your infection is recent.