Can I still infect someone?

[BellaRenee]

After treatment is over can I still effect someone? I am at undetectable levels after 2 months of treatment. If it stay's gone would I still be able to infect someone or am I actually cured? Or is there a chance it could come back? Any ideas?

[kirk8]

I am sorry I lost track of this post.  This got very interesting.  Back to the original question.

Can you spread the virus post SVR?

Barring the most extreme example.  Which I tried to put forward in my organ transplant scenario.  There is absolutely no chance you can spread the disease after SVR.  You don't have to worry about infecting your boyfriend post SVR at all.  Even pre SVR it would be very unlikely.  

I tend to agree with Tekelcat,  However, there is no scientific consensus.  I based my final paragraph, when I talked about the possibility of the virus mutating and coming back, on what the chief herpetologist at the major medical center (where I treated) told me.  

Thanks to tbd1046 for clarifying that one can donate organs even if HCV positive.  They are used in case of emergency when no other suitable organs can be found.  Organ donation saves lives.

[Tekelcat]

Almost all scientists believe that HCV does not come back after SVR24, and the majority now believe that it does not come back after SVR12. Reinfection with the same genotype and subtype of HCV is theoretically possible, but you would have to infect someone with the virus in your body, then go SVR, only to do something that resulted in the virus you gave to that other person coming back to you. reinfection with a different genotype of subtype happens when people naughty things after SVR, and co-infection with more than one HCV genotype/subtype is also possible. The 'naughty' thing is not sex. Absolutely no good evidence that HCV is passed sexually, except male-male sex when one partner is HCV+ and one is HIV+ and they engage in extreme sexual activities, or in man-woman sex when one is HCV+ and the other has an STD in active phase, e.g., herpes break out, but the studies into this latter possibility analyzed only couples in which the woman was a sex worker (i South India), and may not have effectively ruled out IDU.

[orphanedhawk]

It still sounds like side affects from interferon treatment to me.
I had bone pain and intense muscular pain as well as intestinal pain immediately after my treatment.Once the meds were out of my system, ( and I got some massages) the pain went away.

[BellaRenee]

Yeah that's what I worry about. We do our deed then it starts right after. That stupid thing is hard to predict. And sometimes I will just spot because it's a little ruff. It's like I'm in panic mode all the time but I guess if I do get rid of it I'll worry a little less.

[jezzie1]

Same here, we have had sex whilst I have been menstruating as we'll but so have other people and they haven't got it

[BellaRenee]

I worry about it all the time. I finally got him to make an appointment to get checked for next week. We have been together for four years now and dated off and on for three years before that. I know that he doesn't have it unless I have gave it to him.

[jezzie1]

Try and relax what about everyone with their partners who haven't got it after years.  My hubby won't get tested but I aren't taking any chances when I clear the virus.  I will wear condoms or maybe be celibate!  I can't make him get tested, or maybe we will end up divorced who knows but I am getting the treatment and getting rid of this virus.  Not expecting much help with it when I get treatment.  Time will tell.

[BellaRenee]

Super interesting information but it don't sound like I can stop worrying about infecting my boyfriend after svr.

[jezzie1]

I think you can't pass it on once svr.  I had hep b and cleared it and never passed it in to anyone.  It is easier to get than hep c.

[tbd1046]

One can register to be an organ donor in the US if they have HCV. HCV infected organs can be transplanted in someone that has HCV.  Below is an old link where this is discussed.
http://www.natap.org/2001/sep/transplantation_0928.htm
All of us can register to be organ and tissue donors.

[kirk8]

The theory that I proposed in the last paragraph of my response is controversial.  Some scientists believe that the virus can't come back after 6 months post SVR.  The fact is we don't really know if these are relapses or reinfections.  

[kirk8]

I was told by my doctor that you can't infect someone after SVR.  The literature I've read supports this.  

However, in most cases, you can't give blood or donate organs (at least in the US).  I've heard of infected organs being used in certain emergency circumstances, and I've never heard of a person getting HCV after receiving an organ from a person who was SVR.  However, it may be possible.

The theory is that, with some people, some small amount of HCV virus may still be in the body after achieving SVR.  That's why they call it SVR, not "cure."  However, for all practical purposes, it is a "cure."  Basically, if any virus remains after successful treatment it wouldn't be biologically active.

It may be possible that some future mutation, decades from now, may reactivate the virus and cause it to propagate.  This may also be more likely to happen in a person who is an organ or tissue recipient from an HCV "cured" donor, because the underlying metabolic processes of the organ recipient are different than the donor, and the immune system of organ recipients is intentionally suppressed to prevent rejection.

[can-do-man]

I see where you are still treating but Und. after 2 months which means it is possible that you could have a relapse once treatment is over but success rates are really good. but once treatment is over and you remain Und. after 6 months it will be over. Hang in there.

[can-do-man]

If you remain SVR after 6 months post treatment then you are cured. You cannot infect someone with something you don't have. Being your still undetected at 2 months post treatment is a good sign. Best to you.