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View the video entitled What is Hepatitis C Announcer: The information provided in this video is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. If you have any questions or concerns about your health, you should contact your health care provider. Segment 2: What is hepatitis C? Jacobson: As you can tell by its name, the hepatitis C virus, also called HCV, is one of about a half-dozen viruses that specifically infects the liver. Some hepatitis infections, such as those caused by the hepatitis A virus, are short-lived infections that usually cause a lot of specific symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, jaundice-a yellowing of the skin-and an overall feeling of illness, called malaise. Hepatitis C on the other hand, is primarily a long-term infection, and the initial infection with hepatitis C often causes no symptoms at all. In fact, the infection may go unnoticed for years until symptoms appear, or more commonly, when routine blood tests reveal abnormal liver enzyme levels. Because liver disease caused by HCV can progress very slowly, complications of advanced liver damage may not appear until a person has been infected for 20 or 30 years, or even longer. Hepatitis C is also a fairly common disease. In the United States, about 4 million people are infected with the virus, with about 35,000 new infections occurring each year. About 8 in 10 people infected with HCV develop a chronic infection.