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Can someone explain transmission risk from a closing wound?

Hi everyone, this question comes from a place of anxiety in general. But a week ago my housemate brought home a tinder date and he broke a glass and cut his hand. I helped him clean up but there was a lot a blood. We had been drinking so exactly what happened is a bit blurry. I’m not sure how much contact I had with his blood. I helped him put a bandaid on etc but I’m not sure if I actually touched his blood or not. I cut my finger open earlier that day and while it was not bleeding anymore and had started to scab it was still a cut in my hand. What is the risk and am I completely stupid to be panicking or is some panic warranted? I’m getting a blood test in May (which I think is long enough for antibodies to show up?) anyway so I’ll ask them to test for this at that time, but I want to know if I can ease my mind a bit before then.
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683231 tn?1467323017
Hepatitis c infected blood must enter the blood stream of an uninfected person. If your roommate does not have hepatitis c there is zero risk of transmission.

Hep c is most often transmitted through the sharing of IV drug needles or blood transfusion before 1990 when hep c antibody test I g was developed and the blood supple secured. Hep c cannot be transmitted unless hep c infected blood enters the blood stream through at a minimum an open fresh wet weeping injury.

People who have hep c are usually very careful if the have a bleeding injury. Less than 3% of the US population is suspected to be infected with hep c. If your roommate has no history of IV drug use or receiving a blood transfusion prior to 1990 they are al low risk of being infected with hep c.

If a person suspects a Hep c infection, antibody testing should be performed 12 weeks after a suspected exposure. So from today that would be May 8th.  However, wouldn’t it be easier to simply ask your roommate if they are infected with hepatitis C?

Best of luck
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Thanks for the help, it is was actually the tinder date not my house mate. He was very drunk at the time which I imagine points a bit to not having Hep C. But what are the odds of him having it and not knowing. And then passing it on to me in this situation?
Not sure what you mean that his being drunk points to him not having hep C. While someone who has hep c should avoid alcohol doesn’t mean they do.

Odds of him having hep c and not knowing are actually pretty good. Most who have hep c don’t know it as it is a silent illness with the majority of people initially infected have little to no symptoms.

For myself I learned I had hep c when I donated blood. I probably had been infected for 11 years at by that time.

But again hep c is difficult to contract if your roommate has never had a blood transfusion before 1990 or hasn’t shared IV drug needles the odds are low he has hep c and there fire nothing to spread. And hep c needs an entry way into your body like sharing IV drug needles or getting a tattoo in an unlicensed shop that doesn’t sterilize their equipment between customers. Hep c blood must enter your blood stream. Now say you got cut by the same broken glass that had cut someone infected with hep c that could be a small risk.

As to odds take the situation where a medical worker experiences an accidental needle stick involving a patient with known hep c infection. The odds of transmission are only about 2%  

Hep c is a difficult to contract illness with few symptoms for most people that can take decades of infection to cause serious liver injury in most cases. Today there are new medicines that can effectively treat and cure the majority of people who do become infected. Only about 3% of the US population have hep c and that number is declining because of the new treatments available so your odds of encountering someone who has hep c are relatively low.
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