Myths about the route of infection with hepatitis C

All mothers with hepatitis C are contagious to their babies

All mothers with hepatitis C are contagious to their babies

This thought is not yet true, since about 3.6% of pregnant women have the hepatitis C virus.

The transmission of which mainly occurs intrauterinely when the mother is pregnant and before giving birth, the risk is about less than 1%, depending on the viral load of the mother and other risk factors.

However, there is no evidence that the hepatitis C virus is transmitted through breastfeeding, bottle-fed babies, and breastfed babies are equally at risk of infection, according to experts.

For this reason, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics all support breastfeeding mothers with the hepatitis C virus.