3. Current or Former Sexual Partner of Affected Individual

Must not donate if
Less than three months from the last sexual contact.
 

Donors who have a current sexual partner with a history of previous HCV infection may be able to donate, depending on the status of their partner:.

1. If the partner has been treated for HCV infection, and has been free of therapy for six months, and is in sustained remission, accept.

2. If the partner has evidence of previous HCV infection (HCV RNA negative, anti-HCV positive), and has been fully assessed by an appropriate clinician who has confirmed that there is no current HCV infection, accept.
 

Blood Safety Leaflet 

Confirmation of the success of treatment of the HCV positive partner is not required.

Individuals who remain HCV RNA negative six months after completing treatment are likely to have been ‘cured’, with a risk of relapse of less than 1%

In the United Kingdom the risk of sexual transmission of HCV from an infected individual to a sexual partner is low, but not zero.

As the treated individual would have a very low (<1%) risk of relapse of infection and sexual transmission of the hepatitis C virus is rare, the transmission of hepatitis C from a successfully treated individual to a sexual partner is most unlikely.

All donations in the UK undergo HCV NAT screening so that the chance of a window period donation escaping detection is also exceedingly low (estimated residual risk for HCV transmission from a UK blood donation for 2014-2016 is 1 in 95.8 million donations).

Sexual Partners of anti-HCV positive, PCR negative donors
Individuals who have cleared an acute HCV infection naturally are sometimes identified through HCV testing, including testing of a blood donation. Such individuals will be HCV RNA negative but HCV antibody positive. Unlike people who have been treated for HCV infection, they may not have received appropriate clinical follow up, including repeat HCV RNA testing several months after the original negative result. Unless the individual has undergone specialist assessment and been given the assurance that they are not currently infected, their partner is not eligible to donate.

See below