Hepatitis C Causes

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus so it comes from blood to blood contact.

So blood transfusions would be the first and most obvious way. The blood supply has been cleared of hepatitis C pretty much as of 1992.

So a blood transfusion prior to 1992 is a risk factor.

It also comes from shared needles.

So if two people are using injection drugs and the needle used is from one person to the other, then that's another way of transmitting from blood to blood.

Sexual transmission is very, very unusual, but it could happen.

About 2% of monogamous spouses where one spouse has the hepatitis C virus-- over a lifetime, about 2% of their partners will develop hepatitis C.

Vertical transmission, meaning mother transmitting it to child, is also an unusual event, about 2%.

And C-section doesn't seem to make any difference there. And then finally, sharing a straw from intranasal cocaine might be another way of transmitting it.