Can you imagine walking around with a possibly deadly disease for decades and not even know it?

Hepatitis C is a slow-moving disease that has become a silent epidemic in America, because it often has no symptoms, and if left untreated can lead to serious liver damage and even liver cancer. The blood-borne illness affects approximately 3.5 million Americans but many don’t know they have it and could harbor it for 30 or 40 years without symptoms, according to Fred Poordad, M.D., Chief Hepatologist, Texas Liver Institute and Medical Consultant to Gilead Sciences, Inc.

But, there is hope for the millions who have the disease.

Watch the video above, as Dr. Poordad discusses with Dr. Phil the facts of Hepatitis C, recent scientific advances in treatment, and the importance of talking to a Specialist.

“Now, the treatments are much shorter duration, well tolerated, and we’re curing* over 90 percent of people [treated],” Dr. Poordad says. “In the past few years, it is estimated that more people have been cured of Hepatitis C, than in the previous decade.”

For more information, visit: www.hepchope.com.

Sponsored in part by Gilead Sciences, Inc.

*Cure means the virus is not detected in the blood when measured 3 months after treatment is completed.