THERE could be five times the number of people infected with hepatitis C than current estimates suggest, a South-ampton University expert has warned.

As many as one million people may have the virus in England and Wales, says William Rosenberg.

The Health Protection Agency estimates about 200,000 people are infected by the virus which is transmitted by infected bodily fluids.

However, many people do not know they have symptoms until after their liver is badly damaged.

Prof Rosenberg told the annual meeting of the British Society of Gastroenterology in Birmingham: "We have estimated the real number is about 466,000, although it could be as high as a million."

If the figure was half a million, then 125,000 people will go on to develop serious liver disease, costing £123m in transplants by 2008.

Prof Rosenberg also said the "real worry" was that 86 per cent of people with the virus were unaware they were infected.

"Unless urgent action is taken, about 116,000 people will die early from cirrhosis that could have been treated," he said.

No vaccine exists to prevent the hepatitis C infection, but treatments are available that are effective in more than 50 per cent of cases.