A study of blood donors who showed traces of past infection with the
liver-damaging disease hepatitis C has uncovered a possible link between
the infection and snorting cocaine. Snorting “could be an unrecognized
route” for the hepatitis C virus to get into the body, said a team of
medical researchers led by Dr. Cathy Conry-Cantilena of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
But the researchers noted that cocaine abuse may not be the actual cause of the
hepatitis. Cocaine users may simply be more prone to other behaviors that
make them vulnerable to the infection.
Hepatitis C is usually passed via contaminated blood. The researchers said it was possible the straws used to snort the drug could be tainted with blood and the virus could get into a user’s body through the wall of the nose, which is often damaged in cocaine snorters.
