If you look at a world distribution map of HCV antibodies in the blood supply of donors, reported for 1997, two
things immediately jump out at you. First; Major countries like Canada, Russia and China show no incidence
of HCV in the blood supply. Second; all the countries listed are bordered by a geographical coast line to the
oceans of the world - a port city, you might say. Countries in the central continents of Asia, Africa, North
America and South America, all show no prevalence of the disease - as reported! One could conclude that
shipping, or Navies may have had a part in the transmission of the disease in the past, world wide. Panama
reports no problems with HCV today. The Aegis Mosquito (Yellow Fever and Malaria carrier) has been
controlled there for almost 90 years now. American troops have also been there for almost 90 years now. They even fought a quick war there eight years ago! Is this an accurate and credible reporting system? Who takes the lead here? The CDC? The NIH? The FDA? Who is giving us these numbers?

In February, Kevin is standing in line with a shopping cart of the family's weekly food supply. He spots the
cover of that week's Time Magazine (23 February, 98). "The Flu Hunters". He buys the magazine and reads it
later that afternoon. It is unrelated to HCV, but it seems like an interesting article with lots of simple colored
pictures of viruses. "Reference material at worst" he considers. Little did he know it would ignite his search
for the truth in his HCV quest. He read about a secret "global virus surveillance network" that tracked viruses world-wide. The article was about the relationship between the 1918 Influenza (Spanish Flu) outbreak, and last year's mass slaughter of the chicken/poultry industry in Hong Kong. Apparently, the same virus had resurfaced after 79 years, on the other side of the planet. All the experts had predicted it could not happen. They were wrong! It had circled the globe in four months in 1918, killing 18 million people. The Army still had tissue samples at it's Walter Reed Institute of Research (W.R.I.R). Pronounced "Rear". W.R.I.R. works, jointly, with the Army's Institute of Pathology (they store the specimens).

When Kevin spent two summers at Walter Reed, working in the Operating Room, little did he consider that the name would follow him years later. Walter Reed Hospital is the Nation's premiere Military Hospital, located
in north central Washington, D.C.. A new facility was opened in 1984 that stands eight stories tall and is a
thousand feet, by a thousand feet wide. It is a massive medical facility. The President of the United States is
treated there, and so are Senators and Congressmen. They have the 8th floor all to themselves. It is a floor that has individual room-suites for the "guests", and room service for their visitors. The Nation's best and brightest Military Doctors serve here, and also at Bethesda, Navel Hospital. The article in Time Magazine mentioned that the Army's Institute of Pathology had provided tissue samples from the soldiers that had died in the 1918 Influenza Epidemic.

The Army has tissue samples going back past the civil war. Stored and preserved in the name of science. Upon checking the samples of the virus, researchers found that DNA from birds (Avarian) had mixed with human DNA, resulting in a "wild-type virus". Concurrently, Kevin was reading, and learning about HCV and wondering what an Adenovirus was! The magazine's article quoted some experts as saying that they were gearing-up for an expected mutagenic change soon in the viral world. They spoke of viruses that always changed, some being "notoriously unstable". "Especially RNA viruses", Kevin read with interest. "RNA Viruses" he said again. "Hmmm, I wonder....if....." he thought. He went to his vast and ever growing pile of references and began to renew his interest in genetics. A subject that he had been taught 15 years earlier in college by a Nobel Prize winner in Genetics. From the start, something was not right, Kevin could see. "Too many, too sick, for far too long, with so little done" Kevin reflected. Something was wrong!

Kevin searched on the Internet for the names mentioned in the Time article. He found one at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee. He looked for the Department of "Virology" and soon found the "Molecular Virology" department. It was a Public Relations Page that listed a synopsis (summary) of all the medical work being done there to advance children's causes in the name of science and funding. According to St. Jude's we are near a cure in almost every debilitating childhood disease there is known to man - by they way, they need your money, they say. Note: Global viral surveillance network - Children's Research Hospital. Pretty slick, huh? Nice cover fellas! No one will ever guess! Upon scanning the P.R. page, Kevin noticed that one article mentioned "delivery vectors". "What?" Kevin thought. "Never heard of em" he continued. Half way down the article Kevin's eyes stopped! He reread, and reread again. There it was! Adenovirus!

The Molecular Hepatology Laboratory is dark and empty as you quickly rush-in and head blindly for the other
side. Your old cramped office, that you still "hang your hat in", contains the cell phone that was given to you
for Xmas. It's very nice, but you are not use to using one. Your new plush carpeted office was to be your new
academic home. This old office was going to be turned into much needed storage space. As you dart between the large tables and movable benches you suddenly smash your left knee on the last bench that is blocking your path. It is completely dark on this side of the laboratory, and you tumble head first into a set of stacked boxes. Just then the agents kick open the doors and enter the lab behind you. You are pretty sure that your knee is not broken, and you try mightily to recover and stagger into your old office on your one good leg. You are quickly spotted and tracked like wounded prey!

You reach your old desk in the complete darkness and fall across it's top. The cell phone is within inches of
your grasp at last! "Got Ya!" you snarl! Quickly you turn on the phone and hit the #1 memory button. It takes
four seconds for the other party to answer. "Hello?" your spouse answers. You barely spit out "plan B" over
the phone, before the goons enter the office and wrestle you to the floor. "Got Ya!" they announce! Further
injuring your leg. "AHHHH!" you cry out. You are roughly manacled and dragged to your feet like a fence post.
One of the "Agents" takes your cell phone from the floor, where it has fallen, and turns it off. "Nice phone! Mine now!", he confidently declares. You are taken out the back way and hustled into a waiting windowless
government van. Within twenty-five minutes you are airborne and enroute from Boston's Logan International
Airport to Ronald Reagan National Airport, Washington, D.C. "Rights? What rights? You don't have any rights", they mock and laugh at you, as the Leer jet skips smoothly to a comfortable landing.

"KEVIN!" Mark yells over the phone. "Hey Mark! How are you?" Kevin asks sincerely back. "Not good man, not
good!" he confesses. "WHY? What's the matter Mark?" Kevin further inquires. "I'm confused! One Doctor says I got it (HCV), one says I don't!" Mark expresses. "I just don't know!" he finally admits. "What am I suppose to do?" he asks. "I'm not too sure Mark" Kevin hedges. "What about a third opinion?" Kevin innocently asks. "Yeah!" Mark excitedly replies! "I know! I will go to the VA!" He informs Kevin. "I have already had to deal with them in the past after my tour in the Air Force. I screwed up my knee and ......wait a minute.....maybe the HCV.....of course!" Mark now realized that his symptoms also went back over 10 years! What WAS an old injury, became PROOF of liability! "When ya gonna go?" Kevin said. "As soon as I can!" Mark insisted. Mark set an appointment for the following week, and was promptly on time. The VA was not!

Mark sat for over two hours before he politely requested assistance. He had signed-in and had a seat like
everyone else. 9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM and still no help. "Mamam" Mark leaned through the small window and
asked. "I've been waiting for over two hours" he said with a pleasant smile. "Sorry! But we must of lost your
records" the belligerent gum-chewing civil-servant mouthed back. "But I had an appointment for 9:30 AM!"
Mark explains. "I was here thirty minutes early, just in case! It is now past 11:30 AM. Where is the Doctor?" He
skillfully and carefully asks. "Oh! The Doctor? He leaves at 11 AM and makes rounds." she shot back without
even a glance. "What do I do now?" Mark asked and pleaded with his hands outstretched. He could not lean
into the small window any further and was already a sight to see by appearing to be halfway inside, and half
outside. His arms were waving by now inside the room with his head snapping up and down like a sea turtle
and his legs and feet still outside. "Calm down, or we'll call security!" she impatiently threatened! The Doctor
was eventually beeped, and at 12:30 PM Mark walked into the Gastroenterologist's office of his local VA.

"Why are you LATE!" the Doctor instantly scolded Mark. "Where have you been?" he snapped angrily. "What!
You think I have all day?" He said without even looking up at Mark. The Doctor was an older man who had a
wire grey beard, and spoke with a thick foreign accent. "Why are you HERE? I want to see you in MY clinic
Monday!" he demanded. "I wanted to go to the clinic but I was told by the VA that I had to.." Mark was cut off
immediately, and with a wave of the hand, the Doctor followed with, "Never mind! Never mind!" The Doctor was annoyed at him by now. "Go give blood, and be back here Monday morning in my Gastro clinic!" He ordered. The Doctor then got up and left the office, leaving Mark alone in the chair. Mark looked around patiently and then finally followed far behind the arrogant fool. He went to the lab to give four tubes of blood. He found out that the blood is only tested one day a week for HCV patients -on Wednesdays. That is the day the person "comes in" to test the HCV blood at the VA. Why do this if you have a fully functioning laboratory, with qualified laboratory technicians testing blood all week long?. Everybody else gets their blood tested there! What is different about the VA and HCV blood? "I don't understand?" Mark said in a confused voice to the Medical Laboratory Technician taking his blood. "Why Wednesdays?" he asked in an innocent manner. "I don't know, they always do it that way with the HCV blood!" she innocently offers. "Oh!" Mark replies. Afterwards, as he is leaving the building Mark thinks: "Welcome to the VA!" He descends the cold side stairwell, and then exits the impersonable building. Walks carefully across the icy parking lot to his snow covered car. After 45 minutes Mark is on his way back home to Toni and the three kids. "When am I going to get some good news?" Mark ponders to himself, as he pulls out of the parking lot and into the busy afternoon traffic, waiting just ahead. "Got Ya!" he thinks!

Plate Tectonics is a scientific theory that tries to explain why the continents move, and shift about the earth.
It purports to explain that the earth is a liquid molten-ball of spinning rock and iron. Where the heat swells up
to the surface of the planet, hot spots are created. In Meteorology (the study of the weather), we would call it
a thunderstorm! In Oceanography (the study of the world's oceans) we might term it "el nino" (meaning the
child, because it comes around Christmas time). However, Plate Tectonics could also be referred to as "The
Dance of the Continents", as John Harrington writes about. If you looked only at a grain of white coral sand,
on the beautiful beaches of Hawaii, you would find it nearly impossible to explain how the entire island chain
was formed. Calcium Carbonate - CaCO2 (coral) is not hot molten lava! So what is the connection? The Islands
are a string of Volcanics that "stick" out of the ocean. They stretch over a thousand miles long, and run
northwest by southeast in direction.

The theory holds that: The earth's outer crust is cooled and hardens. The hot spots force the crust, a few miles thick in some places, to crack and shift over time. Over a period of billions of years (the earth's age is
estimated at approximately four billion years, the universe's 15 billion years, and man's - 1 million years), the
earth has recycled it's crust several times already. The earth "churns" constantly! Changing itself slowly over
time. It is estimated that the continents move at the same rate that your fingernails grow - about four inches
per year. Over time, continents that float, move across the earth's surface. The "Pacific Plate" is moving to the northwest at 4 inches a year. The eastern part of the plate is the San Andreas fault, that runs through Southern California. Someone 40 years old, has already traveled 13 feet so far in their lifetime, surfing on a continental plate! The Hawaiian Islands have been traveling northwest for almost 16 million years! The "Hot-Spot" has remained in place. It is theorized that it may move, slightly, every 20 million years, or so.

As the continent floats over the hot spot, the earth is softened by the heat and the liquid lava begins to erupt
through, and starts to bubble out. We call these, Volcanoes. Over the years, as the continent slowly drifts, a
chain, or necklace of volcanic islands, have eventually formed. The tallest mountain on earth is Mt. Everest
at a little over 29,000 feet in height. It is located in the Himalayan Mountain Chain - north of India. It is situated
on a part of the planet referred to as "the roof of the world". It is NOT the tallest feature in the world though!
The Hawaiian Island of Hawaii soars more than 30,000 feet off the pacific ocean floor. IT IS the tallest
geographical feature on the planet. We know it as a tropical beach island paradise! Things are not always what they seem. Things change over time. The only constant thing, is change! The earth churns, life branches out, and viruses slowly mutate. The HCV virus was churning now in the nation's blood serum and it's unsuspecting citizens. As it had changed to "C" in the past, it was now branching even further and slowly changing into a few different "variants".

As Kevin serendipitiously (accidental discovery) came across the article about Adenoviruses, he read intently for retention this time. The Time Magazine article spoke about "gene delivery vectors" and "safe adenoviruses now". It was not much to go on, but it was enough! Kevin realized that the Adenovirus was the clue to the mystery of HCV today in many veterans. The military has become the carrier, or instigator, of the HCV problem. Kevin looked further on the internet for any information relating to "Adenovirus". He did a search and four web pages popped up and flashed onto his monitor screen. All four pages were from the same Canadian Corporation, Quantum Bio-Technologies. He spent an evening reading their "Quantum" corporate notes. Located nicely out of reach of the FDA and NIH!

Corporations can raise money in one of two ways. They may borrow funds in the form of issuing corporate
bonds, where the corporation agrees to pay you the guaranteed interest rate over the life of the bond (say 15
%) - if the stock market rises, you lose the value of the principle (say $1,000) and must discount it in order to
sell. You will still get the annual $150 interest payment each year, but if you sell the bond it will be worth less.
You might have to ask for $900 for your $1,000 Bond. If the market dives, as sometimes is the case, then the
Bond's principle value grows proportionally. The only other way a Corporation can raise money for business
is to sell a piece of itself, called a share of stock. They either borrow, or give you a slice of their pie. If business is very good. The stock market goes up as the "owners" of the corporations (stock holders) make money from profits. The lenders do not! When the market comes down, the owners lose the money because profits are way down and people sell their shares. The lenders (bond holders) make their money because business must borrow in order to continue to operate in slow economic times.

One thing Kevin knew from working with Wall Street in the latter part of the 1980's was how to size up a
corporation for financial investment purposes. He learned to ask the corporation, itself, for their "prospectus" or Annual Financial Statement they issued each year by law (SEC). From a Balance Sheet and an Income Statement, one can obtain valuable information concerning the business's economic health, and overall productive efficiency. Is it a good buy? Is it being run properly? Is it under valued? All pertain to "Investment Potential". Once you "know" the corporation's books, you must look at the Industry's market, and that market's future potential for expansion or growth. If it is a very good company in a very bad industry (say: stone axes) then you will do poorly. If it is a good company in a growing field (say: molecular genetics) then you will do very well. Unless the boss embezzles all the money and flees the country, or makes stupid business decisions.

The successful corporations want to tell you all about themselves, in order to get money and to grow in
stature, as you either own part of them, or lend them money. They like to tell potential investors what they will
do with the money they get. On Quantum Bio-Technologies' web page, Kevin noticed immediately that this was a well run company, in a sky rocketing industry! He read all about the wonderful things they were doing with DNA. Kevin also noticed that everything included "Adenoviruses". Since the page is set up for the researchers and investors, they are pretty honest with what they are doing there - to include Clonning. Kevin read with interest statements that referred to the virus as "dangerous, "highly toxic", "bio hazard level 1", "safely used in tissue dish cultures", and the best, "never use in human host without first testing for a reaction!". Kevin was stunned and perplexed! "The military gave THIS to me?" Kevin thought angrily. The more Kevin searched on the internet for Adenovirus related information, the more frustrated he became. There was nothing! Nada! Then he started to search under "Adenovirus Military Viral Testing", and words to that effect. Again, only one page came up innocently referring to Adenoviruses. After years of being on the internet, Kevin has learned to read the URL addresses of the web sites first. One thing he noticed was that 3 of the 4 web pages were from other countries. "Hmmm" Kevin thought, as he leaned forward. Slowly he read the countries out loud. "England, Australia, America, America. Very interesting". What did these three countries have in common? He thought. Was there a link between them? Kevin clicked on the first web page URL from Tulane University, and waited for it to load up. He read it carefully, but it was just a simple public relations document concerning Adenoviruses. "But why come up during a search for military viral testing?" Kevin wondered. He clicked on the second URL (from Australia) and again there was an innocent statement about the virus. On the third URL (from England) he was ready to pack it in for the evening. All three statements, from all three countries, said the same boring thing. "Whew!" Kevin sighed softly with fatigue. "What now?" he thought. Dead End again! Or was it?

When Kevin reached to exit his computer, he noticed something was different. To be more accurate, he noticed just the opposite - something exactly similar! In fact four things similar! "Hey! Wait a minute here" Kevin said with disbelief. He printed out all four pages from three separate governments and lined them up on his table. He placed one on top of the other and held them up to the bright ceiling light. "Well! What do ya know" Kevin said with a Cheshire grin. Each document was exactly the same. Every period and comma were exactly the same, and located exactly in the same place on all four documents. "Who would tell three countries what to say?" Kevin initially thought. Then he realized that these countries must have had a conference and agreed to a common prepared statement. Kevin smiled! "Crafted Document, huh?" He surmised. "Adenovirus, finally!

Got Ya!" was all Kevin could think!