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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT

Hep C

i.v. use,on average up to 70% of users will have hep c.
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I've heard this statistic many times. it's kind of a broad statement though. I feel it would only apply to urban areas that are stricken with poverty and don't have access to clean needles.I say urban areas because of the density of people and I say poverty because they don't have the financial resources to buy fresh syringes.
 
pamalamadingdong said:
agreed. do not share at all. sorry i should have made that declaration as well.

in new jersey you cannot get needles without a prescription. and i do not know the policy on needle exchanges. when i lived in texas, i had no problem getting points from pharmacies. you just gotta tell them it's for you, then i think they will reluctantly hand one over.
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here in the southeastern us they make extremely difficult to get clean syringes. thank god for the internet. I have a friend who just found out he has hep c and he still continues to share spoons and water with people. he doesnt even tell them he has it, he spreads it with impunity.
 
Accidental exposure may lead to infection by blood borne pathogens, particularly
hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. The average risk of seroconversion after a single
percutaneous exposure to infected blood for hepatitis C is approximately 2%
and for hepatitis B it is 6–60%. The average risk of seroconversion to HIV after
a single percutaneous exposure to HIV-infected blood is 0.1–0.3%. The risk of
transmission through exposure to infected fluids or tissues is believed to be lower
than that through exposure to infected blood.
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Source here.

Please note that these numbers are for a healthy adult following a single exposure. Repeat exposures or decreased immune system function make the risk numbers go way up.
 
@raybeeze So if i get this right by "single exposure" you mean shooting with a used needle once on average youve got a 3% chance of catching hep c. this doesnt seem right to me unless im wrong as hep c is rampant in i.v. users and people can catch it from injecting once in their life.

@purelife i live in the u.k. where needles are free and readily available, the 70% figure after 3 year i.v. use was shown me by a drug worker in some pamplet. these were u.k. figures, mostly taken from inner city tests, i guess
 
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Here is a study done in the Canadian city with the largest population of injection drug users .

Over 80% of the injection drug users in the study tested positive for HepC

The study then looked at injection drug users who were HepC positive, and calculated the risk of developing HepC to certain factors:

Daily injection of heroin - 55% increased risk of developing HepC
Sharing syringes - 178% increase in risk
History of incarceration - 256% increase in risk
Involvement in the sex trade / utilization of prostitutes - 369% increase in risk

The study's conclusion was that the extremely high prevalence of Hepatitis C in injection drug using populations is due more to factors not related to their drug use, such as involvement in the sex trade.
 
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"Hepatitis C in injection drug using populations is due more to factors not related to their drug use, such as involvement in the sex trade. "


But the main hep c site says the chance of infection through sex is slim to non existent .the figures they have were 0.0 to 0.6% of suffers caught it through sex. Surely the vast, vast majrity of drug user infection is through contamintaed needles, filters etc..making it the" main factor" The figures for this and the "0.3,3,33% post" just seem way off imo. No offense meant there raybeeze , i may just be reading it all the wrong way round or something.
 
I was with someone for six months and she knew of my hep C and we still had unprotected sex ( i know, poor desicion making) and she never got it. I mean I wouldn't have had intercourse if there was some kind of open would on my genitals. But I was cut and scratch free.
 
keep rechecking.or if thats not possible...look at your eyes often and see if they becoming yellowish.of couse in some situations you just have to share,just try not to,wash the sryinge before reusing and of course always try to be the 'first one' on the needle when you can
 
donnie080208 said:
"Hepatitis C in injection drug using populations is due more to factors not related to their drug use, such as involvement in the sex trade. "


But the main hep c site says the chance of infection through sex is slim to non existent .the figures they have were 0.0 to 0.6% of suffers caught it through sex. Surely the vast, vast majrity of drug user infection is through contamintaed needles, filters etc..making it the" main factor" The figures for this and the "0.3,3,33% post" just seem way off imo. No offense meant there raybeeze , i may just be reading it all the wrong way round or something.
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Hi Donnie, great job picking up on that! I'll explain the missing piece of the puzzle that will hopefully help this make more sense to you and others reading this thread.

You are 100% correct in that Hepatitis C is rarely transmitted through sexual intercourse. So why does risky sexual behaviour increase the odds of getting HepC more than intravenous drug use?

The answer is because Hepatitis B and HIV are both sexually transmitted, and if you have either one of these, your odds of getting HepC SKYROCKET.

If you recall, I quotes a 3% risk of infection after a single exposure to a healthy individual . The risk of HepC infection if you have HIV or HepB is probably between 30-90%.
 
@raybeeze

Im still a bit confused here , especially with the 3% risk, so if you had a 100 healthy adults each who used a infected (with hepc) needle, on average only 3 would catch hep c ?
Going off the rates of infection here in the u.k. (70% i.v. users infected ) surely this is too low, by the single exposure do you mean "using an infected needle once"?
 
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Antavio09 said:
here in the southeastern us they make extremely difficult to get clean syringes. thank god for the internet. I have a friend who just found out he has hep c and he still continues to share spoons and water with people. he doesnt even tell them he has it, he spreads it with impunity.
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wow. what a disgusting individual. :(
 
^second that ,scum of the earth and i hope he dies from a painfull liver decease.
 
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It completely reckless that someone could go around and knowingly spread a disease. sickening.
 
yeah, im pretty sure i got it from sharing water, and if it wasnt from that i still know who i got it from i just cant decide how i should feel about it on one hand im very luck i dont have full blown aids but on the other i know he infected me with an equaly dangerous and deadly disease
 
In Southwest Virginia you can't just obtain a needle legally without a medical reason. I've tried to get a box "for my diabetic aunt" and they wouldn't do it. And no exchanges anywhere remotely close afaik.
 
I've heard the term "dirty south" comes from the high hiv/hep rates. That could just be an urban rumor though.
 
^ Then order syringes online if you have the finances to step into a pharmacy and purchase them.
 
Is this the only hep c thread? It's 3 years old. There's been 2 major breakthroughs in treatment since this last post. Has anyone had to deal with Hep c in the past year?
 
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