Hepatitis Forums
Hepatitis C Prevention, Transmission and Testing => Am I Infected? => Topic started by: wonderer12 on June 10, 2019, 04:46:14 pm
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Hi, I read this article: https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/47/7/931/430109
and was wondering what it means to have weakened nasal linings? Does this mean the nose is already bleeding/runny at the time of intransal sharing?
I think in another post, it was mentioned that a one-off snorting incident would be very very low almost non-existent risk. I'm wondering specifically if in a case where someone already did do a few lines a month prior and felt a small lesion in the nose and then only did 1 tiny line after that month, what would be the risk? Not sure how much the nasal lining can recover by then or would it matter. If someone has a runny nose at the time then it seems indicative that there is a weakened nasal lining, but if there is none including no nosebleed, then would it mean that the nasal lining has recovered and so sharing for only that 1 line would be a very small risk to not be anxious about? Definitely repeating myself a bit here so apologies in advance and thank you for your knowledge
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Frequent users will have thin walls in their nasal linings. But even infrequent users could have a theoretical risk especially if they have an open wound inside their nasal cavity.
If concerned get tested then you will know. If worried about contracting hep c consider avoiding and discontinuing risky activities.
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Got it, I think I read your response elsewhere where hep c can only be transferred blood-to-blood so having an open wound would make sense for the blood on a straw or whatever for intranasal activity to then transfer. How exactly is an open wound defined then? Thank you for your response
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A wet bleeding g open wound. Inside the nose it would be hard to tell. You could have a small open wound not bleeding much it wouldn’t have to be a nose bleed with lots of blood. Also the nasal lining is thin and could allow acces to the blood stream if there was blood on the straw. It’s not me rhat says blood it’s the US CDC which lists sharing snorting equipment as a potential risk.
If you share snorting equipment with someone who has hep c you should get a hep c antibody test 12 weeks after a possible exposure if you don’t know their status maybe they don’t know their status get theses then you will know
But the best way to avoid hep c is to stop activities that put you at risk.
If you continue participating in hep c risk activities you should periodically have the antibody test