Staples says HCV is not a virus that is transmitted through casual contact, and people don't have to be afraid of being around other people who have HCV unless they have some kind of intravenous exposure. Without a cure, vaccine, or effective treatment to look toward, Spielman and Flores bang the drum of education and testing. Spielman emphasizes that people who fit in any of the high-risk categories should get themselves tested. He also proposes needle-exchange programs. There's not really a cure for HIV, but there are things you can do.
Alcohol is certainly the killer.
If you have hep C, first you should stop drinking. HCV ties right back into needle exchange and the importance of stopping the spread of HCV, because it is a stoppable and preventable disease if people don't stick their heads in the sand. Now that we have the test and HCV is out of the blood supply, the next step is to cut HCV out of the addict population by needle exchange. Flores warns against perceiving HCV as a disease that only drug addicts have. Hepatitis C virus is not just a thing to say is confined to the substance-using population, because indeed it's not.