You are here

O/T Question about hepatitis

jojo68's picture

A person was hired a few days ago at the store I work at that has hepatitis. I hate to admit my ignorance concerning this disease. We were all thinking we should go to the health clinic and get vaccinated. Anybody have any thoughts on this? I'm kinda worried and so are the others I work with.

He has Hepatitis C and we found out there is no vaccine for that Sad

Comments

DaizyDuke's picture

You need to find out what type of hetatits first off, there is A B and C.

"C" is contagious and spread by blood to blood contact.

edited.... ALL are contagious and spread through either contaminated food (a person with the virus not washing hands after using bathroom and touching food), blood, sexual contact or needle sharing.

DaizyDuke's picture

good grief Lola.. I didn't even know there was a D and E! I would be calling OSHA if my employer knowingly hired someone with this...

MyLifeMyRules's picture

OSHA? Why? She didnt say they have the plague. They have hepatitis. To not hire them would be ignorant dicrimenation and illegal. With the right precautions (that should be taken even without the knowledge of the virus being presen) everyone is safe. The person with the most to lose is the employee with the comprimised immune system being persacuted immediately

MyLifeMyRules's picture

Daizy stole my question. But at any rate you only need to worry if you are haveing sex with them or are otherwise in contact with bodily fluids. And I dont mean like they sneezed in your direction or kissed you on the cheek I mean like they sneezed in your salad or open mouth kissed your eyeball. Youve probably been contact with alot more people with hepatitis than you realize and survived just fine. Most people with it are very cautious

Jsmom's picture

Statistics say that most people that are Hep positive will never know about it and die from other causes. 10 - 20% of the population is Hep C positive and does not know it.

skylarksms's picture

I had a best friend with Hepatitis (not sure which kind, sorry). He made sure that he was very careful with having his bedroom closed, etc. when I would come for a visit and bring my son.

He was concerned with my son getting into his syringes or something (he also had diabetes).

I never was vaccinated and neither was my son. I believe as long as you are careful with exposure to blood, you should be fine.

Jsmom's picture

This is crazy. You are not in any danger. Do your research. My late husband had it and I never contracted it. You can only get the vaccine for A. The others do not have a vaccine. Quite frankly it is none of your business. We had sex and never used protection and I didn't contract it. He was Hep C positive. You are acting like they have Aids. Something like 20% of this country is Hep C positive and will never know it. He got it from a blood transfusion from Pnuemmonia. He had it for 5 years before he died from Skin Cancer. Complications from Kidney Disease. I was never at any risk according to the doctors....No one even knew he was Hep C positive when he died, it was never necessary to tell anyone. No risk, so why tell them.

I think it is wrong that you even know this about someone. How invasive. Unless you are going to be exposed to their blood then you are not at risk. If you are a nurse and take precautions anyway, than you might need to know. But, honestly I am seriously offended by your attitude and feel sorry for your co-worker.

DaizyDuke's picture

Unless you are going to be exposed to their blood then you are not at risk
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Not true.. depending on the type of hepatitis. Hepatitis A is transmitted through feces.. so if infected person does not wash hands properly and touches food it can be transmitted to others. I'm sorry that some are offended here and think that it "ignorant" to be concerned about this, but a few years ago where I live a waitress in a local restaurant sucessfully transmitted Hepatitis A to 3 (that they know of) patrons, one of whom died from complications.

So sorry, but to poo poo something like this IS ignorant in my book.

Jsmom's picture

Guaranteed that the person who died from Hep A, had a suppressed immune system. Also, odds are good that the person she is talking about has Hep C which is much more common. My issue is encouraging someone to discriminate against someone with Hepatitis. How would you feel if it were you that they were talking about? This person is just trying to earn a living and these people are acting like she has typhoid or the plague. HIV infected individuals are not even treated like this anymore. Hep A has a vaccine and if they are concerned they should get the shot... Most Docs recommend that vaccine anyway.

You shouldn't encourage someone to panic over something that they don't even know the facts about.

DaizyDuke's picture

Point taken, but when it comes to my life and health and the health of my family call me ignorant, but I would be concerned.

Jsmom's picture

Trust me 5 years of sex with a husband with Hep C and no condoms and I have not contracted it. Hematologists told me that the odds of getting it from sex were minimal. I have had blood work done to be sure and DH died over nine years ago. I think the many hematologists that we worked with during his kidney transplants would know what they were talking about...

As for the Aids comment. Don't mean to offend, but they are acting like people did years ago when they found out someone had aids...

Jsmom's picture

Honestly, I would be more worried about the diabetes than I would about him contracting Hep C. If your Aunt is waiting for a liver, that waiting list is very long and hard to get usually they get living donors. If it is a kidney, different story. My husband's Hep C status actually helped him get his third transpant. Since he was Hep C positive and the kidney was as well, he got it after being on the list for only three months. They will actually transplant the hep c positive kidneys into someone who is Hep Negative if they really need it and it is a good match. You have the choice to decline it. For us it gave us three more years.

When I say I know Hep C, I am not kidding. This was such a non-issue that he was Hep C positive. Doctors knew, but it was never a problem. They never took any other precautions that they wouldn't normally do for an immunosuppressed patient. Hep C is more common than people like to think. Given that they are desperate for organs for transplantation, they don't usually turn the Hep positive organs away.

distorted reality's picture

There is a vaccine for both Hep A and Hep B called Twinrix. It is given in 3 dose intervals and is available through any health department. It is a good idea for everyone to be vaccinated, most especially if they work in the health care field, have any type of chronic disease, or work in food service.

http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p2081.pdf