What is the risk of 'household' reinfection during or soon after treatment?

[andrew j]

Hi Folks,

I am almost three weeks into treatment on Harvoni.
I am trying, as I have always tried, to be as meticulous as I can be around household cleanliness / sanitation / blood-spills etc.

Strangely, (for me), my father also has Hep C.
He contracted it in the early 90's from a blood transfusion.

His health has been in decline for a while now - and he's recently had a few falls.
There have been blood spills - some of them reasonably significant.
They are not properly cleaned up.
(Neither my father, nor my brother (who lives in a flat under my father's house) are anywhere near as careful as I am about HCV and household cleanliness / sanitation / blood-spills etc.)).

Last week, after my father got out of hospital following his latest fall, my bother had to go to work - and it soon became clear that my Dad wasn't coping, and that I would have to go around there.
(I tend to avoid going around there if I can, because of the above-mentioned issues around sanitation, cleanliness / blood-spills etc. - which seem to persist, despite my having gone on and on about them for years).

Dad was rolling around in his clothes, in bed.
There were blood stains in the bed, which he'd just wiped a bit of soap on.
I did what I needed to do to look after him, but I just know that I was touching and handling things that may have been exposed to blood, or body fluids etc.

After I left, I felt really upset, and freaked-out.

It looks as if my dad will be needing more regular and constant care, and that I may well be called upon if something goes wrong.
You know how it is?
I can be a very capable carer.

... But I am finding that I just don't want to go around there at all - or touch him, or anything he's been in contact with - or my brother, even - or the surfaces in the house etc. etc.
... As shameful as that sounds.

I am, and have been, so careful myself.

I just don't want to take any risks with this treatment.

I'm pretty freaked-out, actually.

[Lynn K]

hep c requires blood to blood contact you would have to have an open wound, that is a wet and bleeding wound.

if concerned get some medical gloves for these type circumstances and you could also clean up known spills with a 10% bleach solution.

Hep c is not that contagious if it was there would be a whole lot more people infected.

[andrew j]

Thanks, Lynn.

Yes - those are the lines I'm thinking along, and ...
hoping for a miracle?!

[Lynn K]

I am not sure what you mean when you said "hoping for a miracle". Do you mean your cure from hep c? With the stats for cure more like a miracle of modern science.

Is your father also being treated for hep c? What is the reason for his episodes? Does he have cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy? Is your father being followed by a liver specialist?

Anyway best of luck to you both

[andrew j]

... A miracle that means that I won't have to enter and re-enter an environment that may be contaminated with HCV.

My Dad is not being treated for HCV, no.
Neither he, nor his Dr.(s) have given it much priority - perhaps because other
issues have seemed to be more pressing.
... He is getting older now; he is asymptomatic (yes, I know ...), and his liver
readings are normal (courtesy of a naturopath he went to see early on).

It is likely that his various medical issues, together with the meds. he has to take for them, have contributed to the falls.

[Lynn K]

Well like I said hep c is not that contagious as long as hep c contaminated blood does not enter your blood stream. Wear some gloves and bring some bleach

Good luck to you and your dad