Heroin Hepatitis C from snorting heroin?

[verso]

Hello, everyone! This is probably a dumb question, a real dumb question, but I am having trouble finding answers or any real solid information: Is it possible to contract hepatitis c from snorting heroin?

I am watching A&E's "Relapse," and this kid tells his sober coach how crazy he thinks it is that a user can contract hepatitis c "from the dope itself" even without sharing needles. If that's true, that a user can contract hepatitis c from the dope itself, then can a user who snorts heroin contract hepatitis c? How would that be possible, and how is it possible that the very substance, heroin, can contain the virus?

The only information I have been able to find that looks solid to me is an abstract from some medical journal entitled, "Hepatitis C virus infection among noninjecting drug users in New York City."

I can't imagine how snorting heroin could conceivably result in a user's contracting hepatitis c apart from sharing straws, maybe? I know that sometimes my nose will bleed a little bit, so that could be something... but I don't know. Any thoughts? What do you guys think?

 

[Cane2theLeft]

Someone else started a thread claiming the heroin itself contained hep c and he was shut down by many posters very quickly and ended up just deleting his thread. As far as I know, you have to exchange bodily fluids in some form to transmit. Not that people should ignore dangers such as these but its well established that certain groups tend to exaggerate threats like this for effect... A&E is certainly not above this.

 

[SDforever420]

I think you have a much higher chance of gettin it if your a IV user. Even if you dont share needles using the same one over n over again can get bacteria and all that other nasty stuff on it. Maybe something that could lead to hep. c.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

Hepatitis C is a disease caused by a virus. Its not caused by bacteria.

For reference -

 

[Love In Vein]

Hello, everyone! This is probably a dumb question, a real dumb question, but I am having trouble finding answers or any real solid information: Is it possible to contract hepatitis c from snorting heroin?

I am watching A&E's "Relapse," and this kid tells his sober coach how crazy he thinks it is that a user can contract hepatitis c "from the dope itself" even without sharing needles. If that's true, that a user can contract hepatitis c from the dope itself, then can a user who snorts heroin contract hepatitis c? How would that be possible, and how is it possible that the very substance, heroin, can contain the virus?

The only information I have been able to find that looks solid to me is an abstract from some medical journal entitled, "Hepatitis C virus infection among noninjecting drug users in New York City."

I can't imagine how snorting heroin could conceivably result in a user's contracting hepatitis c apart from sharing straws, maybe? I know that sometimes my nose will bleed a little bit, so that could be something... but I don't know. Any thoughts? What do you guys think?

The only other possible way I can think of that you could transfer Hepatitis C other than sex or needle sharing is either using the same spoon, cotton after the infected person or from using heroin is if you used a straw that happened to cause a small subcutaneous injury to the nasal cavity, left a trace of blood on the straw, and then the straw was used by another user.

It can survive in dry conditions for up to 4 days, so if a spoon or something had been contaminated and not washed, used since, there's always a TINY chance... but you would have a better chance of a condom breaking and becoming infected that way than using an unwashed but dried spoon.

It does not exist or survive in dry heroin, period, however, unless someone intentionally took blood from a needle and sprayed it all over the heroin - so in short, the sober coach is just trying to use a scare tactic, in which the user will eventually discover themselves, become disillusioned, believe everything the coach telling them was a lie and probably start using again.

 

[verso]

Thanks for the responses! I'm thinking that sharing straws could conceivably result in hepatitis c transmission; I'm not sure about using a rolled-up dollar bill (paper money is gross, of course). I feel pretty confident that, as someone else has already stated, the virus could not survive in dry heroin. Having had a real bad case of mono that mimicked hepatitis and put me in the hospital (yeah, mononucleosis, can you believe that?), I would like to avoid hepatitis at all costs.

 

[poopymcpoop]

Hepatitis C is caused by the hepatitis C virus. It is a blood-borne disease that is spread when your blood comes into contact with an infected person's blood.

So the answer to your questions is yes; under specific circumstances the hepatitis C virus can theoretically be spread by sharing straws. You mentioned that sometimes you bleed a little when snorting dope; this is not uncommon. If you are sharing the straw with someone who has hepatitis and he as also bleeding a bit, it is possible that a little of his blood can be transferred on the straw from his nose into your bloody nose and there you have the blood to blood transmission of the virus.

 

[RobbyG]

Sounds like a scare tactic lol..

 

[Famine]

ya that doesnt sound right

 

[Love In Vein]

So the answer to your questions is yes; under specific circumstances the hepatitis C virus can theoretically be spread by sharing straws. You mentioned that sometimes you bleed a little when snorting dope; this is not uncommon. If you are sharing the straw with someone who has hepatitis and he as also bleeding a bit, it is possible that a little of his blood can be transferred on the straw from his nose into your bloody nose and there you have the blood to blood transmission of the virus.

Not to mention that as far as I'm concerned, it's gross sharing anything you would use to snort anything with in the first place.

Maybe I'm a germophobe, but I don't want to have anyone's mucous.. especially after they've been snorting stuff... yuck.

 

[smackcraft]

I got a huge lesson on hep - c while in rehab and yes you can get it from snorting BUT the conditions are rare

The only way you would get it is if you had say a cut on the inside of your nose and someone else that was using the same note as you had hep-c and a cut on their nose too and then the blood passed from their cut to yours by the note then yes there is a chance of it being passed on to you