If you're a baby boomer, it's possible that you're walking around with hepatitis C and you don't know it.

Especially if you had a blood transfusion before mid-1992 or shared a needle to inject street drugs, hormones, vitamins or steroids - even once - at some point in your youth.

The fact that more than 2 million baby boomers are infected with the virus, more than 15,000 Americans die from hepatitis C-related illness every year, and such deaths are up and are projected to rise even more is why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proposed that all people born between 1945 and 1965 be tested for hepatitis C.

The viral infection can cause severe liver diseases, including cancer. End-stage liver disease, or cirrhosis, because of chronic hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.

The CDC is expected to issue a final recommendation later this year.