WASHINGTON — The number of people dying from liver disease has reached a new peak in recent years, a major increase that comes as the country’s public health authorities are urging Americans to be on the lookout for signs of a worsening disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday that liver disease rates are on the rise in the United States, with the average person dying of the disease each year for the first time since the 1970s.

The number is on track to exceed the peak reached in 2006, according to the CDC.

In the last decade, the number of liver disease deaths rose sharply in many parts of the country, particularly in states like Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana.

Those states have seen the largest increase in liver disease cases, and in some cases, deaths from the disease have jumped by 100 percent or more.

In recent years the CDC has been trying to educate people about liver disease and the risks associated with it.

A few months ago, a state official announced that a person with a liver disease had died and it was “the single most important event in his or her life.”

In response, the CDC released its “Know Your Liver” brochure, a compilation of common symptoms, as well as health care information about the disease.

“Liver disease is a major public health threat.

In some parts of this country, it is the single most serious health issue facing Americans today,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a statement.

The brochure says that people with liver disease are more likely to suffer from congestive heart failure, strokes, liver failure, kidney failure and liver cancer.

In the past few years, liver disease is also linked to more than 6,000 deaths from cancer and other diseases.

The CDC also released its annual liver disease death report, which includes data on liver disease in every state and the District of Columbia.

The agency said that liver diseases have become increasingly common in the last few years and that it will continue to monitor the trend.

In 2016, the nation had about 5.2 million new cases of liver cancer, up from about 2.8 million in 2015, according the CDC’s most recent data.

The disease is the third leading cause of death for Americans over the age of 50.