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?

[hrsepwrguy]

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

I agree with maybe368 and I think you answered your own question.

[maybe368]

Hep c is not that easy to get, unless you are engaging in high risk behavior...Mark

[caiti87]

I'm sure that's so,  its just pretty hard to swallow when I'm going through soo much to be cured and I was not in jail, or shoot up iv drugs. I'm most definitely more sensitive about these sorts of posts than usual, but I cant help that it bothers me. Anyone like myself can catch hep c and knowing that its a blood to blood infection should soothe most of those obsurd fears, like walking barefoot in an "upper class neighborhood ".

[BoceprevirGal]

  One out of ten African American men, between the ages of 45~65, in the town of Oakland, Ca, are currently infected with the Hep C virus. That is considered a pandemic.
    There is also a predominantly uneven amount of African-Americans getting arrested~

[BoceprevirGal]

  I was very hurt, shocked and angry, when I first read the OCD posts on here, as well, but they are fairly common.
   Obsessive Complusive Disorder is a condition that has to do with brain chemistry, so the sufferers of this disease are not behaving rudely, on purpose.They just have an over-riding compulsion, to seek reassurance, and come here, to do so.
  Hep C is affects one third of the prison population, and people who have the $$ to pay for a good lawyer, and to bail out, dont end up in prison or jail, as much as poor people do,  and I am including myself is that statement. I ended up in jail, and was attacked a few times in there...and the conditiona re horribly unsanitary. So, that may be why the statistic includes socio-economic~
  

[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!