How can hepatitis B and C be spread?

Possible routes include sharing needles or other injection equipment, accidental needlestick injuries, and equipment for tattooing or piercing that was not properly sterilised. Sharing razors or toothbrushes can also create a blood exposure. Hepatitis B may pass through sexual contact and from an infected parent to a baby around birth. Hepatitis C is primarily blood-borne.

These infections do not spread through ordinary social contact such as hugging, sharing meals, or sitting near someone. A person may carry infection without symptoms, so appearance cannot show whether transmission is possible.

Do not share needles, razors, toothbrushes, or equipment that can break the skin. Choose regulated tattoo and piercing services that use sterile, single-use supplies. Use condoms or other barrier protection when advised, particularly if hepatitis B exposure is possible. Ask about hepatitis B vaccination; it can prevent hepatitis B but does not prevent hepatitis C. After a recent blood exposure, seek medical advice promptly because timing can affect the options available.

Contact a clinician promptly after a needlestick, shared injection equipment, unsterile procedure, or sexual exposure involving possible hepatitis B. Seek urgent help for confusion, vomiting blood, black stools, severe abdominal swelling, or rapidly worsening yellow skin or eyes. Fatigue or dark urine also deserves assessment, although neither symptom identifies the cause.

Ask whether you need testing for hepatitis B or C, whether vaccination or post-exposure care is appropriate, and how to protect partners while results are pending.