Hep C - Hepatitis Message Board

Diets · 10-18-2002, 09:38 AM

My girlfriend was diagnosed with Hep C and has all the tests including a liver scan. All tests have come back negative, and her liver is working at 100%. She was very ill when she first contracted the disease and has been told that she now has antibodies and fought off the virus. The question we have for the board is, we have been told by the doctors that she now cannot pass hep "c" on to anyone even with blood to blood contact. Although we can see in her blood she has been exposed to Hep C she cannot pass it on. Has anyone else had or heard of this situation? Please email any answers. Thanks in advance.

thanbey · 10-18-2002, 10:31 AM

Well, here is the scoop.

Your girlfriend had the best possible result after an exposure. She was exposed and is undetectable for hepatitis C virus. The is great news.

It is unlikely that she is contagious, but the blood banks will not accept her as a donor. She should simply take precautions with her blood by covering cuts and generally being vigilent.

Otherwise, my advice is to skip alcohol and smoking, tattoos, or any other risky behavior (to self and to others), altogether.... forever.

Alcohol can, potentially, feed any virus lingering in tissue or sitting around somewhere laying dormant outside the bloodstream. She has no immunity from hepatitis C and could be exposed again, this time with different results. Sexual transmission is a greater risk TO her, rather than FROM her (this is no risk, actually)

An undetected test simply means that our technology may, or may not, register the virus to zero. I am allowing for the human error in labs and for the variations in testing when I say this.

I am recommending these precautions because your girlfriend may wish to become a mother one day. She should decide right now to be in the best possible health for herself and any future children and she is in a great position to do just that.

As for the rest, she is no more likely to transmit the virus than the next person, less if she is careful. There is an unimaginably large pool of undiagnosed people walking around. They are far more at risk than she will ever be and a far greater risk to others because they have no informaiton on how to prevent transmission.

I hope you take the information you have gained through this experience and urge everyone you know to be tested, risk factors or not. There is no true way to know where, or how, she was exposed to the virus (save a documented blood donor or something akin to it), so a test is a wise option for anyone.

I hope this helps,

thanbey

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[url="http://www.hcop.org"]www.hcop.org[/url]
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Wes1212 · 10-18-2002, 02:02 PM

thanbey, why is it that women are more likely to catch a bloodborne disease from a man when it is the woman who menstrates and even passes some blood during the other days?

thanbey · 10-18-2002, 02:26 PM

Good question, Wes.........

The menstruating woman has an "open wound" when she is menstruating. She is vulnerable due to the female physiology that enhances the chances of conception, that being that the semen enters her body. The lining of the uterus is far more vulnerable at this time for any type of infection. It is shedding a layer and is vulnerable to invasion. The sperm travels through the uterus into the fallopian tubes under extreme pressure (to overcome any barriers) and is absorbed. Studies show that sexual transmission is related to viral load in the male.

Similarly, at any other time, she is also taking the sperm into her body during sexual intercourse. The male is injecting under pressure, making it even more likely to be in contact with the vulnerable tissues.

Men, on the other hand, do not have an opening, unless there is an open sore or herpes-type lesion on the penis. A man does not, as part of his physiology, absorb the vaginal fluid or take any fluid into his body. Menstrual flow would have to travel against the seminal flow in order to enter the male body. Even at that, the bloodstream is not vulnerable unless there is a break in the skin. Or, it would have to be absorbed into the healthy intact skin. If that happened, this disease would be really easy to contract by anyone! It isn't. It has to enter the body through an access point where the bloodstream is vulnerable. That isn't how men are built and it isn't the way nature set up the survival of our species.

Additionally, there are silent, undiagnosed diseases like chlymidia that actually have been shown to inhance the woman's vulnerability to infections such as HCV, HIV, syphilis, gonorhhea, and chlymidia. Then there are STD histories, or conditions like endometriosis that can have an impact on a woman's vulnerable physiology past the time of active infection or problems due to residuals of the disease.

Bottom line is, the menstrual flow WOULD be a risk IF it was taken and absorbed by the male body or through the skin. It isn't. Unless a man has an open wound on his penis, it is not even possible. How many men do you know who have an open sore on the penis want to have sex? Ouch!

I hope this helps,

thanbey

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[url="http://www.hcop.org"]www.hcop.org[/url]
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[This message has been edited by thanbey (edited 10-19-2002).]

thanbey · 10-19-2002, 06:43 AM

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