What Needle Users Must Know About Hepatitis C

In the United States, sharing needles or other equipment to inject drugs is the most common way people get hepatitis C, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. This is why Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., an NIH distinguished investigator and former director of the National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C., says that the best way for an injectable drug user to avoid hep C is to “never share a needle with someone else.” Here you can find about 300 needle exchange programs in the U.S. that can help you find clean syringes.

Needles aren’t the only way to spread hepatitis, says Cesar De Almeida-Neto, M.D., Ph.D., a hematologist and professor of medicine at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. “As there is no vaccine for hepatitis C, there are other important precautions for people who use needles to take, in addition to not sharing them,” he explains. It’s also important to avoid sharing any other common personal objects that may have come into contact with blood, such as nail clippers, razors, toothbrushes, tweezers, etc., he says.

While spreading hep C through sexual contact is much less common than sharing needles, if there is blood involved, spreading the virus remains a possibility. According to the Hepatitis C Trust, the risk of contracting hep C depends on the type of sex you are having. You should especially protect yourself during anal sex, rough vaginal sex, if your partner has an ulcer or yeast infection, or if one person is on their period. Dr. De Almeida-Neto says that protecting yourself by using condoms during sexual intercourse is another way to reduce your chances of contracting hepatitis C.

In addition to needles, there are often other pieces of equipment used when injecting drugs. Dr. De Almeida-Neto stresses that it is important to avoid sharing any items related to drug use, including syringe cleaners, water, and filters. If in addition to injecting drugs, if you are also snorting drugs, do not share straws or rolled up paper as even tiny drops of blood could get on the straw and be passed from person to person. Marking your equipment with a permanent marker can help avoid mixing paraphernalia.

Most people with hepatitis C don’t know they have the virus until it begins to damage the liver. That’s why Dr. De Almeida-Neto says that it is important to get screened for bloodborne diseases if you use needles regularly. “Beyond getting tested for hepatitis C, you should also undergo regular screening tests for hepatitis B, HTLV-1/2 (human T-lymphotropic virus), and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus),” he recommends. If you test positive for hep C while still using drugs, treatment is still recommended. Even while using, high cure rates of hep C are reported.

It may seem like something from a sci-fi movie, but researchers have discovered that hepatitis C virus can still be contagious for up to six weeks in spilled blood on dry surfaces or equipment, according to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. One of the interesting findings of the study was that all the hep C contaminated blood spots in the experiment dried at room air temperature withing four hours, becoming harder to see and more likely to cause accidental exposures to the hep C virus.

If blood is spilled, there is a way to help keep you and your loved ones somewhat safe from hep C—bleach. In an experiment to determine the effectiveness of bleach (and other antiseptics) on blood droplets contaminated with hep C, researchers found that after one minute of exposure to bleach, hepatitis C was reduced between 87% to 100%. However, the researchers noted that the antiseptics reduced the infectivity of hep C on surfaces only when they were used at the recommended concentrations but not as well when they were further diluted by water.

People who inject drugs frequently also often struggle with alcohol misuse. And because alcohol consumption can also significantly affect the liver by causing fatty liver and inflammation of the liver, drinking while doing drugs double the risk to your liver. Plus, drinking excessive alcohol can replace normal liver tissue with scared tissue. Hep C treatment can not only prevent further damage to the liver, but it might also help you reduce your alcohol drinking. According to a 2022 study, hepatitis C treatment was overall associated with a decrease in alcohol consumption.

Drug addiction is a complex disorder, with care requiring a team approach. The background for drug use often involves a combination of factors including trauma, genetic risk factors, chronic pain, and mental health issues, requiring a tailored plan of treatment for the individual. Today, as compared to years past, there is a greater understanding of the multitude of factors at play, and treatment, just like for other medical conditions, is becoming more targeted. You can find a quality treatment facility in your region here. This page provides information and resources if you do not have health insurance.