A new study shows viral hepatitis C--a deadly liver infection--is becoming more prevalent in those over 40--among the baby boomers who are aging.

And that means, many people in this age group are at risk now for the complications that come with it.

This disease can in many instances remain silent for literally decades, and then the potentially deadly complications can happen suddenly.

And it’s the aging youth of the 60s and 70’s who are now facing this and a lot of them don’t know it.

Steve Crohn, for instance, is 59. It was six years ago, at the age of 53, when he first learned he had hepatitis C. “On my next physical just when they were pulling blood I was like oh yeah test me for Hep C,” says Steve. “I was probably infected in 79’ from a tattoo. You know they never changed the needle, there was no HIV, there was nothing, it really wasn’t sanitary.”

And it’s individuals like Steve, who now decades later, are learning they have been carrying this life-threatening infection.

“There are lots of ways to get it, but by in the large the vast majority of the population, the pig in the python, the baby boomer generation was infected back in the sixties, seventies and eighties, from IV drug use or intranasal drug use,” says Dr. Douglas Dieterich, a liver specialist at Mt. Sinai Medical Center.

Hepatitis C is a virus causing often a silent disease that slowly eats away at the liver.

“Your liver tests can be normal right up until death,” says Dr. Dieterich. “Typically a patient will come to me with a diagnosis of maybe positive hepatitis C antibody test on a life insurance physical, they will be rejected for life insurance and they don’t know what to do.”

And now, a large national health survey finds that while the total number of individuals infected with hepatitis C hasn’t changed (it’s at a disconcerting number of more than one out every hundred Americans), the people who have it have shifted to predominantly the 40-49 year old age group.

Given they’re older now, they’re at risk for the complications of the disease: cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, subsequent liver failure, and death.

And the longer these people wait to find out, the lower their chances of having success from the currently available treatments.

“Just like any disease, the earlier you treat this, the better the outcome,” adds Dr. Dieterich.

Once steve found out he had Hep C, he was treated…and today his viral counts are zero. “It is really important that we all know if we have Hep C or don’t have Hep C. Plus you don’t wan tot give something got someone else without knowing it, you want people around you to feel safe,” says Steve.

There is a diminishing number of new infections now, given the drug using community is more careful about getting aids, and so is less likely to share needles.

But many people seem to forget even transient risky behavior way back when in their lives, so it’s encouraged that everyone, especially now those in their 40’s, to get tested for Hepatitis C at a routine physical.

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