Durham, N.C. - It is a "silent" disease, one that infects about two percent of the U.S. population. Hepatitis C, or HCV, is a blood-borne virus closer to HIV than to Hepatitis A or B. It's transmitted through blood transfusion and injection drug use. The virus lives in the body, slowly scarring liver tissue and blocking blood flow. Those infected should maintain a balanced diet, avoid alcohol, cover up sores, and not share razors or toothbrushes.

John McHutchison, gastroenterologist and liver specialist at Duke University Medical Center, says drug treatment can cure 60 percent of those infected.

"That's a long term cure, so when we look at those people five years later, there's no virus. We're getting there; we're over halfway there."

HCV risk factors include blood transfusions before 1990, use of injection drugs, elevated liver enzymes, kidney failure and HIV. Discovered in 1989, HCV was relatively unknown until recently.

"It was the introduction of blood tests and ease of diagnosing it that allowed us to suddenly realize how common this was over the last 10 years. And we've spent the last 10 years really catching up and trying to work it out."