Who gets hepatitis?
A virus most often causes hepatitis. As you probably know, many viruses are easily
passed from one person to another. While hepatitis A, B, and C are all communicable
diseases—which means they can be transmitted from one person to another—each has specific means of transmission. The ways in which each type of hepatitis is spread are summarized below.
Hepatitis A: Contamination in food or water
A person may contract hepatitis A virus simply by eating food or drinking water
that has been contaminated by infected human excrement. This is called the fecal-oral
route of transmission. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also
lists the following risk factors for contracting or transmitting hepatitis A:
- Household or sexual contact
- Day care attendance or employment
- Recent international travel
- Food handlers
- Individuals who have used contaminated needles
Hepatitis B: Four times more common than HIV
Hepatitis B virus is spread through contact with infected blood. There are many
ways of coming in contact with blood, such as from cuts, nosebleeds, and even menstrual
blood. Even the tiniest amount of blood on common objects like a toothbrush, razor,
or manicure instrument can carry enough of the virus to infect someone. Some of the
major ways in which hepatitis B is spread include:
- Blood transfusion before 1975
- Hemodialysis (using kidney machines)
- Jobs with exposure to blood (especially healthcare workers)
- Unprotected sex with multiple partners
- Tattoos and body piercing
- Sharing straws for inhaling cocaine
- Close household contact with an infected person
- Sharing personal care items (razors, nail clippers, etc.)
- Sharing needles for IV drug use
- People traveling to countries where hepatitis is common (China, Taiwan, Hong
Kong, and other countries in Southeast Asia)
- From mother to baby at birth
Hepatitis C: Blood-to-blood contact
Like hepatitis B, hepatitis C is spread through contact with infected blood.
With hepatitis C, there is risk associated with everyday events like bleeding from
cuts or nosebleeds, and blood associated with menstruation. Household personal effects
that come in contact with the blood of an infected individual can become means of
transmitting the virus (for example, toothbrushes, razors, or manicure instruments).
The major ways in which hepatitis C is spread are:
- Blood transfusion before 1992
- Hemodialysis (using kidney machines)
- Jobs with exposure to blood (especially healthcare workers)
- Tattoos and body piercing
- Sharing straws for inhaling cocaine
- Sharing personal care items (nail files, nail clippers)
- Sharing needles for IV drug use
Unlike hepatitis B, the risk of contracting hepatitis C through sexual contact
is extremely low, except for people with multiple partners. About one-third of hepatitis
C patients never find out how they contracted the virus.
The importance of prevention
Hepatitis can be avoided, and avoidance is always the best course of action.
Practice safe sex and never share personal objects such as razors, toothbrushes,
nail files, and clippers.
If you have manicures or get tattoos or body piercings, make sure that sterile instruments
are used.
Hepatitis A vaccine
Consider getting vaccinated for hepatitis A if you work at a day care center,
come into close contact with someone who is infected, travel to geographic areas
that have poor sanitation, or live in an area where there has been a recent outbreak
of hepatitis A.
Hepatitis B vaccine
Individuals who are routinely exposed to blood in their work should be vaccinated
against hepatitis B. These individuals include:
- Healthcare workers
- Laboratory technicians
- Dentists
- Surgeons
- Nurses
- Emergency service workers
- Police officers
- Fire fighters
- Paramedics
- Military personnel
- People living with an infected person
Having one form of hepatitis does not protect someone from getting other forms.
Patients with hepatitis C who also contract hepatitis A are at high risk for fulminant
hepatitis, which is a deadly and rapidly progressive form of the disease. Therefore,
medical experts strongly recommend that hepatitis C patients also get vaccinated
against hepatitis A.
To review what scientists know about how hepatitis A, B, and C are contracted, see
the following table, "How Viral Hepatitis is Transmitted."
How Viral Hepatitis is Transmitted