 [ Symptoms ] i know how you can get hepititis c but how can you get b or a my husbands brother has hhepititis but doesnt remeber if its a b or c and just slept with my best friend if he has a or b can she get it [ Disease ] this is a good question hepatitis refers to inflammation of the liver the a  b  and c designations refer to different causes of the inflammation hepatitis a is a virus transmitted through the stool of infected people hepatitis a is the type of hepatitis you get when someone does not wash their hands after going to the bathroom and then prepares food which you subsequently eat in a healthy adult hepatitis a infection usually does not require any treatment it clears up on its own over the course of weeks to months and does not cause any long term problems hepatitis b also is caused by a virus but it is a distinctly different virus than the one that causes hep a hepatitis b is transmitted through unprotected sex unsterilized tattoo needles shared drug needles and so on many people who get hep b do not even know they have it it often clears up and goes away without treatment if a person has been immunized against hep b and has a sufficient level of antibodies in their system they can not get the virus even through unprotected sex a doctor can do a simple blood test for hep b antibodies to determine if a person has or had hepatitis b or if they have had the vaccination for it hepatitis c is spread only through direct contact with infected blood it is unlikely to get hepatitis c through unprotected sex hep c is most commonly spread by the shared use of infected needles when injecting illegal drugs hep c also can be spread through the re use of contaminated tattoo needles and piercing equipment so to answer your question if your brother in law has hepatitis c it is unlikely he could transmit that through unprotected sex on the other hand hepatitis b is commonly spread through sexual relations please remind your friend and your brother in law to always practice safe sex hepatitis is just one of many potential sexually transmitted diseases a person can contract from having unprotected sex diseases like genital herpes and human papillomavirus are incurable it is not worth the risk best to you