OCTOBER 1 was the start of hepatitis C awareness month. With much media coverage into the symptoms and effects of the disease, one Broadway woman believes we should all be more aware of the deadly virus.

Simone Drinkwater knows all too well the effects of Hepatitis C because she lost her father to the illness in April and urges everyone to be clued up on the disease.

Her 26-year-old father, Alan, was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 1993 and died, aged 54.

"Dad was diagnosed with the disease in 1993 but for the disease to be detected by doctors it takes around 20 years. So until then you become completely unaware that you've got it," said the business development manager from Osprey publishing in Oxford.

Alan received a liver transplant in 2001 but despite the operation his health continued to deteriorate.

Simone said: "It was quite sad towards the end because prior to the illness my father was an intelligent, funny man. As time went on the disease seemed to take his energy leaving him debilitated."

Simone and her mother have learned to cope with life and, to celebrate her father's life, she took part in a sponsored walk for international Hepatitis C awareness day on Saturday, October 1.

She, along with 22 others, walked nine miles on Snowshill, Broadway, to raise cash to help fight the disease.

Simone said: "If there is one thing I could say to all young people it would be this, get tested for the disease. I don't mean to be all gloomy about the subject but it's life threatening. It's not uncommon to have multiple partners nowadays and people must be aware of the risks and hepatitis C is one that cannot be cured. Get tested."

More than 500,000 people in Britain remain unaware that they are carrying the Hepatitis C virus and at risk of developing chronic liver disease. The illness is a blood born virus and is transmitted through contact with infected blood. There are many ways you can contract the disease such as blood transfusions, although since 1991 all blood products have been screened for hepatitis C. Intra nasal drug taking such as using cocaine is very corrosive to the nose, as a result traces of blood on shared banknotes or straws perhaps too small to see can contain enough of the virus to transmit infection. Tattoos, injections and piercing are also other ways you could be at risk to Hepatitis C along with sex, the risk is increased with multiple partners if one partners is infected with HIV or has another sexually transmitted disease.