When I say hepatitis c, what comes to mind? It sounds pretty bad, right? Some people will think you ate food handled by a chef who didn't wash his hands after using the restroom. Some people will think it's an STD. Some people have no idea as you've never needed to know.
Well, whether you want to believe this or not, you DO need to know because millions of people worldwide have hepatitis c and most people do not even know it.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. There are several types of hepatitis but I am focusing on hepatitis c. Within the land of hepatitis c there are subcategories called genotypes. Here in the United States, genotype 1a is the most common. What does this mean? It means that your liver is under attack by this tricky virus that hides and changes to withstand medicines. Many people live 20+ years with hepatitis c and don't know they have it because there are not always symptoms. No symptoms does not mean there is no damage happening in your body. Left untreated, hepatitis c can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and or liver cancer. There are more infections of hepatitis c than HIV and yet so little education is done.
How is it spread? It is spread via blood. Blood to blood contamination. If you've had a blood transfusion in the '80's, you're at risk. If you've ever used IV drugs (and shared a needle) even just once, you're at risk. If you've had a surgery in a country where sterilization is not a priority, you're at risk. Have a tattoo or piercing? At risk. If you've ever been to a dentist, you're at risk. A dentist even here in the US where we have strict sterilization laws, it happens. I am 31 years old, I have never had a blood transfusion, I have never used IV drugs, I have never had a surgery in another country. Yet I have hep c. Where did I get it? I don't know. Many people don't know. It could have been a visit to a dentist. It could have been an oral surgery I had. A piercing from 6 years ago or a tattoo from 13 years ago. I may never know how I got it.
The next time you are at your doctor, ask to get tested. Even if you have a series of STD tests to make sure you are healthy, hep c is not included as less than 2% of people known infected contracted it from a partner. It's extremely difficult to contract sexually unless there is blood involved. If your doctor says you needn't worry, let them know that a friend of yours who is extremely low risk found out he had hep c and doesn't know where he got it from and you just want piece of mind.
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