Some people are at increased risk for Hepatitis C, including:
- Current injection drug users (currently the most common way Hepatitis C virus is spread in the United States)
- Past injection drug users, including those who injected only one time or many years ago
- Recipients of donated blood, blood products, and organs (once a common means of transmission but now rare in the United States since blood screening became available in 1992)
- People who received a blood product for clotting problems made before 1987
- Hemodialysis patients or persons who spent many years on dialysis for kidney failure
- People who received body piercing or tattoos done with non-sterile instruments
People with known exposures to the Hep C virus, such as:
- Health care workers injured by needle sticks
- Recipients of blood or organs from a donor who tested positive for the Hep C virus
- HIV-infected persons
- Children born to mothers infected with the Hep C virus