How do people get hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C spreads when the blood of a person who is infected with hepatitis C gets into the body of a person who does not have hepatitis C.
- Medically reviewed by
- AKF's Medical Advisory Committee
- Last updated
- March 28, 2022
Hepatitis C infection happens most often in people who:
- Share unsterile (dirty) needles for injection of illegal drugs (for example, heroin)
- Are being treated in a health care setting where needles or other medical tools are not sterilized (cleaned) in the right way
Much less often, hepatitis C can happen:
- When a child is born to a mother who has hepatitis C
- From having sexual contact with a person who has hepatitis C
- From sharing items like a toothbrush or a razor with a person who has hepatitis C (the gums sometimes bleed on a toothbrush and people sometimes accidentally cut themselves while shaving)
In the past, hepatitis C would happen from:
- Medical procedures involving donated blood (before 1992)
- Before this time, the screening process for blood diseases within donated blood was not well controlled.
- Medical equipment contaminated with hepatitis C, before strict infection control was required
