Oct 29, 2014. Hepatitis C is a type of hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). When a person initially contracts hepatitis C, HCV incubates for an average of six to seven weeks before producing any symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hepatitis C spreads when the blood from a person infected with hepatitis C virus gets into your body. This can happen in many ways with different degrees of risk. While every possibility of exposure isn't listed, here are seven of the most common ways hepatitis C is known to spread from person to person.

Transmission Hepatitis C (HCV) is transmitted when the blood of an infected person passes into the blood of an uninfected person. Hep C is most easily spread through direct blood-to-blood contact, such as: • Sharing needles and other equipment (paraphernalia) used to inject drugs. Injection drug users (IDUs) who share needles, syringes and paraphernalia associated with injecting are at the highest risk of HCV. • Blood transfusions and organ transplants before July 1992. Widespread screening of the blood supply in the United States began in 1992. • Sexual contact with someone who has HCV.

The risk of becoming infected with hepatitis C through unprotected sexual intercourse is low-but it is still possible. HCV sexual transmission risk is higher among those who are HIV positive and in men who have sex with men (MSM). Milosc I Zemsta Serial Wloski. Sex with multiple partners, having a sexually transmitted disease, and rough sex may increase the risk of transmitting HCV sexually.

• Having an HCV-positive mother. Women who are infected with hepatitis C have a 6 percent chance of passing the virus along to their babies during pregnancy or delivery. The risk increases if the woman has HIV, hepatitis B or a high HCV viral load (the amount of HCV in a measurement of blood). The HCV transmission risk is doubled or tripled in women with HIV. It is unlikely that HCV can be transmitted through breast feeding or breast milk. Three out of four people with chronic HCV were born from 1945 through 1965.

Baby boomers are five times more likely to have hepatitis C than adults born in other years are. The CDC recommends that people born in those years get a one-time blood test for hepatitis C.

Sexual Transmission of HCV Sexual Transmission of HCV Introduction The hepatitis C virus (HCV) often causes liver inflammation. In up to 80% of people initially infected with HCV, the disease becomes chronic, potentially leading to long-term liver damage. A small percentage (about 20%) of those who are HCV positive will progress to liver cirrhosis, and approximately 3-5% of those with chronic HCV infection will develop liver cancer. Experts estimate that at least four million Americans are currently chronically infected with HCV; the number of new cases of HCV in the U.S.