The following are the latest statistics available from the National Center for Health Statistics, the American Liver Foundation, and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS):

• Over 20,353 people in the US die each year from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.

• Cirrhosis, a chronic liver disease, is the leading disease-related cause of death in the US.

• The vast majority of cirrhosis cases could be prevented by eliminating alcohol abuse.

• Approximately 4 million people in the US are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus.

• Between 10,000 and 12,000 people die of hepatitis C annually in the US.

• Hepatitis B kills around 5,000 people in the US annually, and 73,000 are newly infected each year.

• One in every 250 persons is a carrier of the hepatitis B virus.

• More than 80,000 people are newly infected with hepatitis B each year in the US.

• Chronic hepatitis B infection increases a person's chance of developing liver cancer by 100 times.

• There are approximately 22,000 pregnant women who are carriers of hepatitis B each year in the US.

• Each year, more than 500,000 surgeries to remove the gallbladder are performed in the US.