Hepatitis C transmission

[SaraO'Hara]

I'm a pre-nursing student, and a friend of mine just called me up in a dither for some medical information.

He works as a waiter in an assisted-living facility, and one of the cooks has been of unsanitary habits in the kitchen - eating while cooking, licking her fingers and cooking, injuring herself in the kitchen and not bandaging the cuts, drinking while at work, etc. She has just admitted that she has Hepatitis C.

I looked in the Merck Diagnostic Manual, which indicates that HCV is transmitted blood-to-blood, eg by tattoos, transfusions, etc. My friend has had no blood-to-blood contact with this woman, but he, along with the rest of the wait staff, have eaten food cooked by her, which may have contained small amounts of her blood or saliva.

What his questions boil down to are:

1. Is it possible for HCV to be transmitted orally?

2. Should he be tested?

Thanks very much!

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

Although we don't offer medical advice here per our Terms of Service, generally speaking, Hep A is the concern for food service settings, not Hep C. Here's a link to the CDC page on hepatitis:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/index.htm

As a side note though, the thought of a finger-licking, Bandaid-shirking cook is kind of gross. Hopefully if they ate her food before, now at least they won't.