The study of HCV transmission among household contacts is complicated by the difficulty of ruling out other possible modes of acquisition. Care providers need only advise patients to take "common sense" precautions such as not sharing items that may have blood on them (e.g., razorblades, toothbrushes) and properly covering open cuts or wounds. The prevalence of HCV among household contacts of people with HCV infection is low. Other Modes of Transmission Household Transmission For HCV-negative patients who have a new HCV-positive partner or engage in high-risk behaviors with a partner of unknown HCV status, regular screening is recommended.For patients who have new or multiple partners, HIV infection, or high-risk sexual behaviors, it is recommended that they use condoms and exercise caution regarding potential blood exposure to help reduce the chance of HCV infection.For discordant couples in long-term monogamous relationships, a change in sexual practices is not necessary (e.g., if they have not been using condoms, they do not have to start using condoms).For discordant couples, with one HCV-positive partner and one HCV-negative partner, the negative partner should be regularly screened for HCV infection.When counseling patients regarding sexual transmission, the following issues may be relevant: Having sex during menstruation or whenever blood is present.Having sex with a prostitute or intravenous drug user.Having a history of a sexually transmitted disease.However, the likelihood of sexual transmission of HCV is increased under any of the following circumstances: The frequency of HCV transmission between monogamous sex partners is very low according to most studies. On the other hand, HCV infection is very efficient when it is passed from the blood of one person to the blood of another person, such as when people share needles for drug use. It is believed that HCV can be transmitted sexually, but that it is inefficient - meaning, it is not easy or likely to pass the virus during sex. The topic of sexual transmission of HCV has been controversial. Injecting.( 7, 8) Duration of injecting is the strongest single predictor of risk of HCV infection among injection drug Infection.( 5) Studies of injection drug users have demonstrated that the prevalence of HCV infection in them is extremely high, with up to 90% having beenĮxposed.( 6) In addition, the incidence of new infections is also high, with seroconversion rates of 10-20 percent per year of Use.( 4) In addition, rates of HCV among young injecting drug-users are four times higher than HIV In comparison to other viral infections, HCV is more rapidly acquired after initiation of intravenous drug Injection drug use has been the principal mode of transmission of HCV since the 1970's. since 1999, and have lowered the current risk of acquiring HCV via transfused blood products to 1 in 2 These techniques are estimated to have prevented 56 transfusion-associated HCV infections per year in the U.S. In the last several years, blood banks have instituted techniques that utilize nucleic acid amplification of the hepatitis C virus, which will detect the presence of virus even in newly-infected patients who are still hepatitis C antibody-negative. Status.( 1, 2) Today, HCV is rarely transmitted by blood transfusion or transplantation of organs due to thorough screening of the blood supply for the presence of the virus and inactivation procedures that destroy bloodborne viruses. The two most common exposures associated with transmission of HCV are blood transfusion and injection drug use.īlood Transfusion/Receipt of Blood ProductsĮarly case-control studies of patients with newly acquired, symptomatic non-A, non-B hepatitis found a significant association between disease acquisition and a history six months prior to illness of blood transfusions, injection drug use, health care employment with frequent exposure to blood, personal contact with others who had hepatitis, multiple sexual partners or low socioeconomic It is clear that HCV is most frequently transmitted through large or repeated direct percutaneous exposures to infected blood. Some modes of transmission of hepatitis C virus are well documented and widely accepted others are less well defined and require further study. Blood Transfusion/Receipt of Blood Products.
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