Where is hepatitis C virus infection found?
Hepatitis C virus occurs worldwide. How do people get hepatitis C infection? Hepatitis C is spread by contact with the blood of an infected person. People have become infected with hepatitis C virus by: • Sharing equipment for injecting street drugs • Receiving blood, blood products, or solid organs from a donor whose blood contained hepatitis C virus • Being on long-term kidney dialysis, during which they unknowingly shared supplies or equipment that had someone else’s blood on them • Having frequent occupational contact with blood in a health-care setting, especially accidental needlesticks • Being born to a mother with hepatitis C • Having sex with a person infected with hepatitis C virus • Living with someone who was infected with hepatitis C virus and sharing items such as razors or toothbrushes that might have had that person’s blood on them Although the main route of infection in the past was through transfusion of contaminated blood and blood products, screening of blood, organ
