And they may not know it until twenty or thirty years after their drug-using days are over.  The risk is so high that a US study recommended that everyone who has ever snorted cocaine or other drugs should be tested.

The Hepatitis C virus attacks the liver, but symptoms may not become apparent for decades after infection.  Some health professional fear an epidemic is only now coming to light.  Graham Foster, professor of hepatology at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine, University of London, warns that people who stopped snorting or injecting drugs years ago should know they are at risk.

“[P]eople who have put their risky behaviour behind them are not so easy to identify. Twenty years ago, they might have been clubbing, maybe injected once or twice, or shared snorting equipment. It’s these people we need to reach. They’re not aware that they might — potentially — have been carrying the virus in their body for decades.” Typically, with their risky ways behind them, these people have carried on drinking alcohol over the years. Unfortunately, nothing accelerates liver damage faster than alcohol.

According to the What Not to Share campaign, run by the Hepatitis C Trust, cocaine users are particularly at risk because the drug corrodes the inside of the nose, causing nosebleeds. Hepatitis C can be passed on to users who share banknotes or straws. You don’t need to see blood on a note for the virus to be transmitted, and it can live in dried blood for up to three months.

Treatment involves taking ribavarin pills daily and injecting oneself with interferon every week for up to a year.  Side effects can be debilitating for some.  The regimen is effective in just over half of cases.

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