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Can you get hep c from drinking after someone who hasn’t received treatment yet.

I have asked this question before, and I’m getting mixed answers. I have this man in my church with hep c. He had a bottle of water with him with flavoring in it, I remember some of the details now. I picked his up by mistake, and drunk out of it, and at the time I had a canker sore on my inner lip it wasn’t bleeding just red. The guy didn’t know he had hep c at the time, so his treatment had not started yet. he wasn’t having any symptoms at the time. What are the chances of me getting this from him since he hadn’t started treatment and since I had the canker sore in my mouth. I will admit I’m having some joint pain some days no fever though. People are telling me you can get it from Saliva, and some say you can’t. I’m planning on getting tested.
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683231 tn?1467323017
Opps meant as few as eight weeks treatment
Helpful - 0
683231 tn?1467323017
You don’t need to see a doctor to get tested. You likely can ask at a lab near you. You can also go to any walk in clinic and see any doctor on staff.

You said your canker sore was just red not open and bleeding which would lessen the probability of any virus being able to enter your blood stream.

As far as those folks who don’t know how they got hep c unwilling to bet at least a few may not be totally honest about a one time drug use issue  out of embarrassment. Also the old practices at some dentist offices could be a possible source, a forgotten blood transfusion, unknown mother to child transmission.

I can understand the CDC and others doing further research but I suspect that Neal here is at an extremely low risk and freaking out over nothing.

Neal worry accomplishes nothing  knowledge is power. If your worried get tested for hep c antibodies 12  weeks after this occurred and then you will know. Hep c is not easily contracted and today being very successfully and relatively easily treated.

The only way to know if you are infected, although I very much doubt you are, is to get tested. Worrying and asking questions that can’t be answered by even the experts in the field accomplishes little. While your risk is very very low no one can know what actually happened in your case.

Bottom line if you have concerns, get tested.
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11 Comments
Ok thanks so much.
asking questions that can’t be answered by even the experts in the field
——————————
I agree entirely  that’s why I was surprised at your very first answer here.

Neal
Again, I believe your chances of being infected would be extremely rare to nill.

Good luck
I’m have answered his same question in the past on this exact situation. I guess I maybe was a little short and just answered “No” on this same repeated question
Thanks so much guys. I really appreciate it.
Sorry for the repeat question Lynn, it’s just this sort of thing freaks me out. I’ve just never been around someone one with hep c before.
Neal if it’s been more than 12 weeks get tested then you will know. My apologies for being short with you.
Just to add hep c isn’t very contagious the saliva risk is primarily theoretical. It it were many more than less than 4% of the US population would be infected. Also if at some point in your life you should ever become infected hep c thanks to the new generation DAA  meds hep c today is very treatable so even if you should become infected your chances of being cured are in general higher than 98% with treatments that can be as simple as taking one pill a day for as few as four weeks.

Now that hep c is approaching curable for the majority of patients there is much less to fear from contracting hep c.
No one said anything differently.
The OP asked why in his research he was seeing conflicting info on saliva and  he was given an explanation.

It IS a fact research is being currently conducted on infect-ability of body fluids(importantly saliva) to possibly help explain unexplained infections.
Not disagreeing with you Will. He has been asking this question a few times over the last couple of months so I am assuming he may be one of those folks with some amount of medical anxiety issues who sometimes get themselves overly worried by repeatedly researching the same issues and getting a variety of information from sources both good and less reliable sources as well.

Sometimes for those folks it doesn’t matter how many times they get an answer they keep asking the same unanswerable questions of what is their specific risk in a relatively low risk scenario.
Yes Lynn , in the 10 or so years I have been around here I have also seen tons of those.
I usually don’t make it a habit to respond to those , but I had some time on my hands.
Keep up the good work.
Just one of the few old guard left around here you and me.

Take care be well :-)
Avatar universal
There were numerous reasons I cited this research.
One, it is relatively new research and it is clearly stated that it is partly driven by the seemingly high number of HCV cases being seen with  “ No risk factors”(ie.drug injection or high risk sex)
The “new”research states the number of these infections is estimated now at approx.33 % of all infections.
That would mean if the figure of 2.4 mill. are infected then approx.700 thousand just in the U.S. alone have no idea how they contracted HCV.

This obviously seems to be a growing concern among physicians treating HCV and yes as well the CDC.
The current research shows that there  “is”“virus in saliva that “may”cause infection, not that there “may”be virus in infection.

Neal
As we both have mentioned, it would seem that your scenario would seem highly unlikely of contracting HCV  , however the scientists are now aware of  possible infectability of saliva and you asked why you were seeing conflicting information
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4 Comments
Should have read
“be virus in saliva”
where I typed:
“be virus in infection”


If this is the case. Then why aren’t all these websites updating their information. But I am planning on getting tested just to be safe. I just can’t believe I did that. I’m not the type of person to drink after someone. And the thought of me possibly being infected scares the hell out of me. Sorry for the language.
Well getting  “ general” information about any disease “ is broad based information only on internet websites.
Sites like CDC, AASLD, and EASL for the most part has
“general updated” information, however, again, research is always ongoing especially in light of the fact, as the evidence states, that there seems to be significant numbers infected that are
somewhat unexplainable.
Again, I would not worry about your given scenario, but you asked about saliva and I cited some new research being conducted.




Well getting  “ general” information about any disease “ is broad based information only on internet websites.
Sites like CDC, AASLD, and EASL for the most part has
“general updated” information, however, again, research is always ongoing especially in light of the fact, as the evidence states, that there seems to be significant numbers infected that are
somewhat unexplainable.
Again, I would not worry about your given scenario, but you asked about saliva and I cited some new research being conducted.




683231 tn?1467323017
Just to add, there have been many long term  monogamous couples in these forums where one has hep c and the other does not even after decades of being in that relationship and having regular intimate relations with no protection.

Comparing simply mistakenly drinking on one occasion after someone who you say has hep c vs having regular sexual relations with a hep c infected person I assume you can gather why I suggest you are at an exceedingly low to the point of basically no  risk
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683231 tn?1467323017
The symptoms you mention are not related to hep c. The majority of people have no symptoms beyond being maybe somewhat fatigued. When people develop symptoms it is after decades of infection when some will develop liver disease and the symptoms are of advanced liver disease.
Helpful - 0
683231 tn?1467323017
https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcv/cfaq.htm#C5

Transmission / Exposure
How is hepatitis C spread?
Hepatitis C is usually spread when blood from a person infected with the hepatitis C virus enters the body of someone who is not infected. Today, most people become infected with the hepatitis C virus by sharing needles or other equipment to prepare or inject drugs. Before 1992, hepatitis C was also commonly spread through blood transfusions and organ transplants. After that, widespread screening of the blood supply in the United States virtually eliminated this source of infection.

People can become infected with the hepatitis C virus during such activities as:

Sharing needles, syringes, or other equipment to prepare or inject drugs
Needlestick injuries in health care settings
Being born to a mother who has hepatitis C
Less commonly, a person can also get hepatitis C virus through

Sharing personal care items that may have come in contact with another person’s blood, such as razors or toothbrushes
Having sexual contact with a person infected with the hepatitis C virus
Getting a tattoo or body piercing in an unregulated setting
Hepatitis C virus is not spread by sharing eating utensils, breastfeeding, hugging, kissing, holding hands, coughing, or sneezing. It is also not spread through food or water.
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Avatar universal
As far as HCV infectability of body fliuds(inclusive of saliva.tears,semen) there has been ongoing research(copied below) over the years that shows these fluids are shown to frequently contain virus.

The latest research is quite complicated reading however to quote in part:

"In summary, we present the first systematic investigation of HCV stability and infectivity in different body fluids. Even though transmission via saliva, tears, semen, or other non-parental body fluids are believed to be rare, we could clearly demonstrate that virus remains infective within these fluids and could potentially become transmitted. It is likely that the reduced viral loads in the diverse body fluids, as compared to viral levels in blood, are responsible for the observed low transmission rates, however, transmission might still be possible and its risk should not be fully neglected. In conclusion, strict compliance to established hygienic guidelines should be mandatory to avoid further HCV infections

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5881408/


There are folks that state they do indeed have HCV and have no idea how thay may have conracted it ,with no risk factors.
In this research above the approx. number of these infections is stated to be to be close to 33%.

That is a lot of people who get HCV that have no idea how, hence them doing research on means of infectability.

Having said all that ,it would seem that the means you have suggested to contract HCV would be extremely rare, however saliva given this data can not be entirely ruled out.

Getting tested for HCV is not a bad idea anyway IMHO.



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3 Comments
Well I had surgery a week ago. And the lady that was having me sign consent forms to draw blood that sort of thing. I told her about my situation, and my fear. Would they have drawn my blood before the surgery, and tested it. Or is it required that they do that anyway.  My parents are telling me I’m over reacting, but I have a 3 year old nephew that has drunk after me. This was before I knew the facts.
HCV is not routinely tested for so no they would not have tested you for hep c antibodies.

As willbb has said there is some scientific evidence there may be some small amount of virus in some body fluids. That being said the CDC does not consider sharing of drinking glasses or utensils to be of any risk.

If hep c was that contagious many more than about 2.4 million persons in the United States would have hep c.

From the U.S. department of health and human services:

“How Is Hepatitis C Transmitted?
Because HCV is primarily spread through contact with infected blood, people who inject drugs are at increased risk for HCV infection. Much less often, HCV transmission occurs through sexual contact with an HCV-infected partner, especially among persons with multiple sex partners and men who have sex with men. HCV transmission can also occur through accidental needle sticks, breaches in infection control practices in health care facilities, and from mother to child at the time of birth. Currently in the United States, healthcare related transmission of HCV is rare.”

Your exposure was of little to no risk if you have concerns get tested for hep c antibodies in 12 weeks then you will know.

There is no way to quantify your risk except to say it is minimal.

Ask your doctor for their opinion follow their advice.

But in my non-medical opinion No you are not at any reasonable likelihood of risk.

Even if I get canker sores in my mouth? I had one at the time this occurred. What makes me even more worried is I have a 3 year old nephew that has drunk after me on numerous occasions. I’ve told my brother my fear, and he doesn’t seem too concerned about it. My family thinks I’m just trying to find something wrong with me, but this is a serious issue. I’m planning on getting tested though when I get under a new doctor.
683231 tn?1467323017
No
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