Module 10: Understanding Hepatitis C

Module 10: Understanding Hepatitis C, Screen 7 of 11

Less Common Ways HCV Can Be Transmitted

There is increasing evidence that hepatitis C can be transmitted sexually when at least one partner is HIV-positive. There is also a low but existent rate of infection (zero to 3 percent) in long-term heterosexual couples when one partner has hepatitis C.

There is a small chance (about 6 percent) of transmission from mother to baby during birth. This chance is much higher (about 20 percent) if the mother is coinfected with HIV.

Blood transfusions and organ transplants before 1992 were sources of infection. The risk today of hepatitis C infection from a blood transfusion is very, very low.

People who don’t inject drugs but do report snorting cocaine appear to have an elevated risk of contracting hepatitis C. This has led some researchers to suggest that sharing straws to snort cocaine may be a route of transmission, but the data on this are mixed.