Hey Kramer and Mamba - thanks for your honest answers. This is not a minor curiosity on my part, and if anyone else wants to share, that would be great.
I suppose another thing to factor in now is the impending wonder drugs (we hope they'll be wonderful, and almost all the trial testimony here bears that out). If you''re recently diagnosed, like Mamba, you can take the long view and think, "well, condoms for now, and in a couple years I'll be cured and we can be au natural again."
There's a lot of ways of looking at this one, I suppose.

I feel you should definitely tell sexual partners. Since genotypes are somewhat geographically clustered, it only makes sense that the virus has been around a while and has found a way to survive before IV drugs and blood transfusions came along.

I discussed it with my GP and he suggested protection but what does a GP know. My liver Dic said we would be fine. We did added reading and we don't worry except like Kramer said, in the bathroom

I agree with telling sex partners but I don't have casual sex. If there is any degree of trust & mutual respect enuff for sex, I should trust wiht that info. How would I feel if someone sprung it on me, later? Doesn't matter if sex transmitted, or not, its a matter of honesty. Just my personal habits. With or without the chains.

Its easier if you can disclose with comfort before becoming physically intimate. If the person freaks, nothing lost.

That's a good point MrOso about IV drugs & transfusions.... according to the Red Cross, the earliest know blood transfusion was in the 1660s.... fine needle syringes were invented in the 1850s and disposable syringes were first patented in the 1950s.... I remember one of my doctor using glass syringes.... and my dentist didn't use new needles.... tattoos have been done for 1000s of years.... plus vaccines and doctors not using sterile equipment....

I agree one should tell their sexual partners....

MrOso,
Do you feel that sexual transmission rates are underestimated? I don't mean to read things into your post that aren't there, but I wondered if that was part of your point.

Sex is a very poor vehicle for HCV transmission.
HCV is not an STD
http://talk.news-medical.net/profiles/blogs/hepatitis-c-is-not-a-std
Bob there so many other ways it was spread.
Poor sterilization techniques in surgery, military action, tattoos, and many other means that have been around as long as civilization.
I prefer to not be further stigmatized and marginalized than I already have been by making me a potential pariah in the bedroom too.
Enjoy your sex life and if you want to go the extra step, use a condom. It's your choice.

I don't mean to imply that HCV is normally transmitted through sex. Most of the data indicates sexual transmission rates to be very low to nonexistent.

I only wanted to point out that the geographical clustering of genotypes seems to suggest the virus mutated over hundreds if not thousands of years in one area. It's hard for me to imagine a scenario that would allow the virus to survive unless there's a way to transmit we don't fully understand yet. Especially considering the exact same scenario would have to have been repeated in another area with a different genotype.

I should also say this is just my opinion. I meant to imply that "I" would tell a sex partner, not that one "should," although that is what I said.

I'm BobOso, and I approve this message.

Were ever there's blood to blood. Maybe Cain and Abel.. lol
Different genotypes different languages different races......

Oh.... maybe you Monsanto? YIKES!!!!!

I appreciate the follow-up, Bob.
Interesting discussion.

This is an interesting discussion.... it's my understanding that all genotypes originated from geno 1....

Although its origin is unknown, patterns of viral diversity suggest that HCV genotype 1 probably originated from West Africa. Previous attempts to estimate the spatiotemporal parameters of the virus, both globally and regionally, have suggested that epidemic HCV transmission began in 1900 and grew steadily until the late 1980s. However, epidemiological data suggest that the expansion of HCV may have occurred after the Second World War.

The evolutionary rate of HCV appears faster than previously suggested. The global spread of HCV coincided with the widespread use of transfused blood and blood products and with the expansion of intravenous drug use but slowed prior to the wide implementation of anti-HCV screening.

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000198

The finding that genotypes 1b, 2a and 2b are present in
most parts of the world may be due to previous large-scale
medical interventions. Blood transfusion only became wide-
spread following the Second World War, but before then,
several procedures that utilized human tissue were frequently
followed by cases of jaundice. These include the administration
of yellow fever vaccines containing human serum (Findlay &
MacCallum, 1937 ; Sawyer et al., 1944), measles convalescent
or immune serum, or vaccinia virus prepared from glycerinated
human lymph. Hepatitis was also observed between 1910 and
1940 as a consequence of the use of unsterilized needles and
syringes after injection with arsphenamine in the treatment of
syphilis, or other injections (Mortimer, 1995)

http://vir.sgmjournals.org/content/78/2/321.full.pdf

It's seems if it was sexually transmitted one genotype would be more exclusive to one region. Still, I'd still tell my partner, like ptriss said, it's a matter of honesty.

Also interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_Hepatitis_C_virus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_Hepatitis_C_virus

I hate this disease....

Horses?
http://www.virology.ws/2013/02/12/did-hepatitis-c-virus-originate-in-horses/

http://www.virology.ws/2013/02/12/did-hepatitis-c-virus-originate-in-horses

As for sex:

I was married 18 years and had 4 kids before getting diagnosed and pretty sure I had it before I was married. After my divorce i was in a 10 year relationship - still before I knew. Never used any "protection" cause i didn't know I had it!

Neither my former husband or boyfriend have it, or my kids.

I think if you are married or in a committed relationship when you get diagnosed you would want to tell your partner for support, but IMHO no need to start using condoms since they've already been exposed *IF* sex transmitted it, which it doesn't! But of course, to each his own.

I think I might sabotage every possible relations since however because i do not want to have "the conversation." maybe if I get cured it would be easier to tell someone I HAD hep C...i don't know....maybe it is even less necessary to share if these cures really work....maybe I won't have the opportunity to ever need to worry about it...