Spouses that got infected?

[Katy63]

I have heard that the chance of this is very low 0-5% but just thought I would find out from this point of view.

[fretboard]

The only spouses I know about that got infected slammed dope with their husbands!!  It just doesn't happen that much sexually.  The percentage 0-5% is given for statistical purposes.  just my 2 cnts!

[eureka254]

Hopefully the lack of a flood of "yes" responses is reassuring.  It's also quite possible those who claim to have received it from their spouse may in fact have contracted it independently (spouses having different strains of hcv), or shared needles or other bloodsport with their spouse.  From an incidental standpoint, my husband probably was hcv-positive for all of our 24 years together and I'm hcv-negative.

[burned74]

Friend of mine got HCV from his spouse.  

Probably more likely female to male as men would be more likely to contact womens blood if they were having intercourse around the time of her period. Of course, he would have to have a cut or other avenue into his bloodstream so its still unlikely.

[Andiamo1]

http://www.springerlink.com/content/t3jm471x10266365/

I have seen  a few studies that show higher rates of infection in family settings than in the general public.  The most common number I have seen in the general population is 1.8% infected with HCV.  The study in this link has higher numbers than other I have seen, but in all cases the infection rate in families is higher than in the general population and between spouses, higher still.  

Whether the higher rate of infection is caused by sharing razors, toothbrushes or sexually transmitted is unknown.  Perhaps it is even caused by shared needles between spouses.

I conclude from this, that sexual transmission is a very low risk, but greater than 0.  I will believe this until the exact method of familial transmission is known.

[hcvJames]

tlhIngan maH!

Sex is a blood sport for Klingons

[pj1881]

Its almost always the mans fault with everything, of course..

[Jakied]

sexual transmission of hcv is possible but VERY rare.  Sexual transmission, when it does occur, is almost always male to female.

[nygirl7]

I remember that study from way back when.  Since then I've never met anyone on here who's spouse was infected - ever that I can remember and I've been here a long time now.  

[Bill1954]

I wonder if this is the, or one of the studies ‘desrt’ is referring to:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Am J Gastroenterol.');" 2004 May;99(5):855-9


http://tinyurl.com/258a2l

"Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.

The risk of sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was evaluated among 895 monogamous heterosexual partners of HCV chronically infected individuals in a long-term prospective study, which provided a follow-up period of 8,060 person-years. Seven hundred and seventy-six (86.7%) spouses were followed for 10 yr, corresponding to 7,760 person-years of observation. One hundred and nineteen (13.3%) spouses (69 whose infected partners cleared the virus following treatment and 50 who ended their relationship or were lost at follow-up) contributed an additional 300 person-years. All couples denied practicing anal intercourse or sex during menstruation, as well as condom use. The average weekly rate of sexual intercourse was 1.8. Three HCV infections were observed during follow-up corresponding to an incidence rate of 0.37 per 1,000 person-years. However, the infecting HCV genotype in one spouse (2a) was different from that of the partner (1b), clearly excluding sexual transmission. The remaining two couples had concordant genotypes, but sequence analysis of the NS5b region of the HCV genome, coupled with phylogenetic analysis showed that the corresponding partners carried different viral isolates, again excluding the possibility of intraspousal transmission of HCV."
~~~~~~~~~~

--Bill

[desrt]

The 0-5% figure (sometimes quoted as 3-5%) you'll hear quoted a lot is based on a single study that was disproved years ago. A group of couples that supposedly had no other known risk factors was part of this group. When their blood was later gene sequenced/genotyped it was found they all had to have contracted the virus from different sources.
HCV is passed by blood to blood contact. Unless your sex is a blood sport, you have no risk.