If hepatitis C is so easy to get, why don't we all have it?

[skleep]

Hi, I'm a 23 yo female, US, white, upper class background.  I will admit I do have OCD, which used to center around HIV and now is about hep c.  It seems so easy to get, but that makes me wonder why it's only 1% of the population who has it, not 75%.  I see studies saying 40% of patients cite no risk factors, so presumably they got it from everyday occurrences.  But if that's so easy to have happen, why don't we all have it?

In addition, my boyfriend essentially has the same "risk factors" as I do, and he refuses to get tested.  He also says I shouldn't get tested because it will only make my OCD worse.  My old therapist agrees, as do my parents.  I will probably get tested anyway, after I see a new therapist to help treat OCD.

More than anything I would like to know what my risk is.  The only risk factors I can think of:

1.) I shared a bill to snort cocaine once with a young friend.  I have no history of cocaine/drug use other than that.
2.) I once walked 2 blocks barefoot and when I got home I realized I had cut my toe, but I didn't know how it happened (upper class residential area)
3.) I go to the gym a lot, presumably at some point I've had a cut on my hand.
4.) I have had mani/pedis a few times but the places seemed hygienic.  It was all after 2004 so presumably they were aware of hep c.
5.) My brother and I were both born with jaundice (I required no treatment) however my mother says she was probably tested for hep c recently when she was approved for life insurance in 2010 and they tested her for tons of things including hiv.
6.) I have had oral surgery before, but I didn't get any blood products to my knowledge and it was all after 1997.

With all of this, I feel like I 100% have hep c, but then I realize it's still not a common disease, and MOST people don't have it.  Most people have probably encountered the things I've encountered, so I'm just confused...if it's so easy to get why don't we all have it, and what's my risk?

[BoceprevirGal]

   Most people dont have Hep C because the main way to catch it, currently, is thru I.V. drug abuse (77% of the new cases)
   Many people wont admit that they got Hep C, from shooting up,
because of many reasons. I would never go on my FaceBook, and say, "hey, guess what, I just got cured of Hep C, hooray!!!", becuz of the stigma involved.
   I know tons of people who have Hep C...and we all used to shoot up.

[skleep]

Oh I definitely have OCD.  I wish this would all go away because I know so many people who have the same "risks" as me and they don't give this a second thought!

[BoceprevirGal]

    Be careful, because I was so scared of germs, like HIV, that I
sometimes feel like I went out and caught Hep C, just to be over the anxiety. Once I had it, I know longer worried about it!
   Just recently, I got rid of it, and now I am freaked out about catching it again, after 20 yrs of no worries.
  Do avoid manicures and pedicures though, and get tested once, and no more cocaine straws, then, no worries.
    OCD seems to have cycles, and comes and goes, but is veryhard to cure. It is also very painful. At a certain point, I thought I caught Hep C, from taking a bath after someone who I knew had Hep C. I kept asking people for reassurance, eenmy kids, although I knew that this was typical OCD behavior.
  

[skleep]

Interesting.  I'm just so angry that mani-pedi places are allowed to run if they're risky!  Shouldn't there be rules about sanitation?  I guess before the '80s it was more dangerous because nobody knew even about HIV at that point...but c'mon, I should hope they're at least sterilizing stuff!  yikes.

[caiti87]

I'm sorry but all I have to say is WOW!!!! I'm infected. Going through all kinds of hell to treat it,  and these are the kinds of questions posted?  I'm sure I'm going to sound rude and probably compassionless, but it just shocks me. Most of the people ive encountered that are infected did not come from "poor, un -sanitary neighborhoods " neither did I for that matter. Hep c doesn't discriminate.

[skleep]

I certainly don't want to offend anyone.  I guess I see things online that tell me there's a high chance I'm infected, and if it's a difficult process as you say, then, it would make sense to worry about it and wonder about my risk factors.  I don't think it's impossible for upper class people to get it, but I'm just going off a study I read that said it was more common in lower class areas/populations.  It's also more common among certain racial groups but I know that doesn't mean it's impossible for white people to get it.  If I thought it discriminated, I wouldn't be worried!