My husband was recently diagnosed with Hepatitis C. They think he may have contracted it many years ago as a teenager through shared needles. If this is the case, he's had it since before we met. We've been married for 26 years. Am I at risk. If I have it, could my children have been born with it?

Hepatitis C can be transmitted sexually, but it is a low risk. To be safe and put your mind at ease, I would get a test. :)

Hepatitis C is only transmitted blood to blood. Shared razors, toothbrushes and personal items can put you at risk or if blood was exchanged during sex. As NauticalStar said the sexual risk is extremely low (some sort of blood exchange) but it would be best to get tested and put your mind at ease (especially since there are no symptoms). Your husband needs to be really careful now that he knows about his blood - especially bloody kleenexes etc. as Hepatitis C does not die when it hits the air for several days. If he bleeds and doesn't flush it down the toilet and you pick it up with a cut on your finger (or if your children pick it up with a cut) that would be a blood to blood exhange. BE SAFE and good luck to your husband. There are lots of us out here dealing with it and lots of us doing treatment for it. Take care!

Peace
Pam
www.HEALSoftheSouth.org
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Thanks for the websites Pam, but I could only get one to open. Very informative.

Please read the Hepatitis C Fact Sheet from the Centers of Disease Control.

It contains all the info you should know about contracting Hep C from your husband.

Hello J9. This is my first time at this site. Popped up on my Yahoo or Google alerts about Hepatitis C. Don't really understand how it works yet. My forte is Hepatitis C and the sites were really part of my signature as that is my nonprofit organization. The CDC has some great information except for this sentence *If you are HCV positive, do not donate blood, organs, or tissue. * While *we* cannot donate blood, we can donate our organs and they are used on other Hep C positive individuals. Just wanted to clarify that for anyone that might surf by here. Please sign your donor cards whether you are Hep C positive or not! Did you know that Hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver transplantation in the United States and that 2/3 will die waiting for a liver transplant because there aren't enough organs to go around? I have lost many friends that were on waiting lists over the years. We outnumber HIV patients about 5 to 1 and yet few people know about this disease much less the differences in Hep A, Hep B and Hep C. Hepatitis B can be transmitted sexually. Hep C is transmitted blood to blood. There are about 5 million people in the U.S. with Hep C and 4 million don't know it yet. There are no symptoms until the latter stages of the disease. GET TESTED if you have a risk factor! Take care!

Peace
Pam
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www.HEALSoftheSouth.org

PS - The .org site is temporarily down but will be back up agan soon. Dang servers!
If someone wants to access MANY informative Hep C sites please look 1/3 of the way down the page at www.HEALSofNFL.bravehost.com

Yes, Pam, my husband has a very good friend who passed many years ago from Hep C he got from a tattoo. Now, this was about 20 years ago. The Hep C was diagnosed on autopsy.

My dad contracted it in the 70's from a blood transfusion. He was diagnosed more than 20 years later. The first thing the doctors did was have my mom, myself and my siblings tested. The risk is low, but it is there, and it's better to be tested than just assume you don't have it.

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2/3 will die waiting for a liver transplant because there aren't enough organs to go around?

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Which is why all who are capable should be organ donors!!

Hi Jillian. Hope your dad is doing well with his. Has he treated and cleared? I have probably had mine since the late 60's and wasn't diagnosed until 1997. I worked in hospitals my entire life and no one had heard of it until a gastro read an article in a magazine and called me in to be tested. My only symptoms were recurring unexplained pneumonias *HIV like they said* and fatigue. I don't have HIV. I thought the fatigue was because I was turning 50 and never having been 50 before I just figured you got tired because you were OLD ROFLOL I don't think of 50 as old anymore. I was not successful with treatment and because of all the pneumonia's I can't be transplanted. I encourage everyone I know to sign their donor cards! There are many good sites for organ donation. Here in Florida and Georgia we have LifeLink Foundation - HOME There is OrganDonor.gov and United Network for Organ Sharing: Organ Donation and Transplantation for anyone needing information on organ donation or on how to get a donor card.

Thanks for the well wishes, Pam, but he passed away last January. Not sick enough for a liver, then too sick for one (an infection came on fast and furious). None of the rounds of treatment were successful for him and he progressively got worse from the time he was diagnosed until he died. He also suffered from rare complications brought on from the liver disease, including brain damage and encephalopathy. If the MELD system hadn't been implemented he would have gotten a liver years ago. Then again, if organ donation was something you had to opt OUT of instead of INTO he probably would have gotten one years ago too! And don't even get me started on stem cells...

Sorry to hear of your health problems, I hope your doctors are getting things under control for you. Best of luck!

I am sorry to hear about your dad Jillian. I have lost so many friends to this crummy disease. It is what keeps me advocating and educating. Treatment failed me in 1999 and I am not a candidate for a liver transplant because of my lungs. I take each day as it comes and am grateful for every one of them! I lost my dad in 2003. Mom is beyond healthy at 82. Take care.