husband told he has hep c

[mrss19]

Please help,my husband of 20 yr has been told he has hep c but I'm worried as to how he caught it.he did use to inject drugs but tho was over 13 yrs ago.

[flyinlynn]

While injecting drugs is not the only means of contracting hep c it is the most common. It only requires once even many years ago to become hep c positive that is a very common scenario.

While hep c is not generally considered by the CDC to be a sexually transmitted illness  there is a small risk of transmission.  The people at greatest risk for sexual transmission are those with multiple sex partners or those who engage in rough sexual practices or in the presence of the HIV virus.  For long-term monogamous couples the risk of transmission is very low and the CDC does not suggest such couples need to take precautions to prevent transmission like the use of condoms or other barrier protection.

There have been many people at these forums married for many years where one partner has hepatitis C and the other does not. You should probably be tested to make sure that you don’t have hepatitis C but the odds are very good that you don’t.

As far as how he contracted hepatitis C it is very likely from his IV drug use in the past. Other than that from any other cause there’s really no way to know.

[mrss19]

Thank you for your reply its really helped.so today he received a call from the hospital for his appointment with the liver specialist and its not until may 13th!!surely hell need to start taking medication before then.he does have an appointment with his gp in 3 weeks time,not sure what that's for,I just feel like its going to drag on for a long long time and I the mean time his boss has told him just to get better but he's a very hard working and proud family man so I'm keeping an eye on his mental state as well.

[flyinlynn]

Hep c isn’t really a medical emergency it takes in most cases decades if ever to cause liver damage. As you said he’s probably been infected for 13 years a few weeks will make no difference. Specialists are very busy especially these days treating all the new and old hep c patients now that it is very curable especially when compared to the old interferon treatments.

I was infected for 37 years. I treated a total of five times. He’ll be fine waiting

Heck even to get in to see my gp for my annual physical I’m having to wait about a month to get in.

[flyinlynn]

I’m assuming he is working there really is no reason he needs be off work