"Viral Hepatitis is associated with high-risk IV drug use and sexual activity."
Yo, hey, dude: it's also associated with military service in the 60s and 70s.
Vets have Hep C at a rate estimated at TEN TIMES the population at large, and not from drug use or sexual activity, either.
As a matter of fact, normal sexual activity between healthy men and women is a very poor way to transmit Hep C. Sharing toothbrushes is more dangerous.
Risk factors include contact with the blood of the wounded or injured, or even the blood on a dirty razor in the barber shop...improperly sterilized dental instruments...accidental needle sticks in a medical context...gamma globulin shots...assembly-line airgun vaccinations...and, of course, contaminated plasma or blood.
The perception that it's a disease of junkies and the depraved can only hinder the thousands (or is it millions?) of vets who were infected in the line of duty from getting some long-delayed justice from Uncle Sam.
Don't think Hep C here, rather think Hep B. It's still common in some parts of the developing world. He could have gotten it before there was a vaccine. And Hep B was commonly a gay STD in this country before the vaccine reduced it.
I meant high-risk drug use (IV drugs) and high-risk sex (sodomy, especially promiscuous gay sodomy)