No one is immune to hepatitis C. Once you have been cured, you will still need to take precautions to avoid reinfection in the future. This means staying safe by never sharing equipment including needles, syringes, spoons, filters, water, swabs, dregs or tourniquets. It only takes a tiny amount of blood to spread hepatitis C, so stay safe by using new equipment every time.

Hepatitis C is spread through blood-to-blood contact, which means you need to avoid any way that another person’s blood could come in to contact with yours. However, you cannot contract hepatitis C from any other type of contact such as touching, sneezing, coughing or using the same bathroom. 

Hepatitis C can be spread in blood so tiny that you are unable to see it, and can live outside of the body for a number of weeks. This is why it is so important that you use new equipment every time. The New Zealand Needle Exchange Programme can provide you with equipment, information and advice about hepatitis C, injecting and more. Click here to locate your nearest exchange.

If you have hepatitis C, to avoid infecting others you should:

• Cover any open cuts or wounds
• Clean any blood spillage with household bleach (avoid contact with skin)
• Use a condom and avoid sexual practices which may risk blood contact
• Do not share piercing or tattooing equipment
• Do not share drug injecting or snorting equipment
• Do not donate blood
• Do not share razors, towels, toothbrushes or other objects that may have come in to contact with your blood