Hepatitis C harms the liver gradually and most people who suffer from the disease do not have any idea about their health problems until liver damage comes to light decades later.

It is reckoned that approximately 180 million people all over the world suffer from chronic hepatitis C, with more than 4 million of these cases in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Natalie Cole’s publicist announced in a statement released on Wednesday that the Grammy-winning singer discovered her disease during a routine medical examination and that her ailment is probably a result of her drug use in the past.

Usually, hepatitis C is spread when contacting infected blood. However, in the U.S., the most frequent way to develop it is by sharing needles and other paraphernalia generally used to inject illegal drugs, Dr. Joseph Rahimian, an infectious disease specialist at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City, informed FOXNews.com.

The 58-year-old daughter of Nat King Cole was addicted to LSD, cocaine and heroin before a long hospitalization in rehab in 1984 which she confessed in her autobiography.

Dr. Graham Woolf, associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA/Cedars Sinai Medical Center, reported that Cole has had an excellent reaction to her medication and is now virus negative. “This gives her an increased chance of cure,” he stated. However, the doctor said that Natalie Cole has experienced side effects from the anti-viral drug, which is the only FDA allowed medication in order to treat hepatitis C. According to Dr. Graham Woolf, the singer’s side effects consist of exhaustion, muscle pains and lack of fluids, but he said that she was getting better.

The standard treatment for hepatitis C comprises weekly injections of a drug named pegylated interferon alpha, plus twice-daily oral doses of ribavirin, as said by the Mayo Clinic.