I fell asleep while driving my car on the freeway for the second time in as many days after feeling quite ill for a number of weeks in March, 2000. My doctor thought I had been suffering from the flu, but my symptoms were becoming more and more severe, and I could barely get out of bed in the morning. After my second scare on the freeway, I knew this was more than a case of the flu. I revisited my internist, and he ordered lab work. Result: A very aggressive case of Hepatitis C (HCV). Since he was not familiar with the treatment of Hepatitis C, I made an appointment with a liver specialist at UCSF, who upon seeing my lab work ordered a liver biopsy for the very next day. At that time, my liver enzymes (ALT) were at a level of 1200 (the normal range is 17-31). When the specialist reviewed the pathology report of my liver biopsy, damage to my liver was already detectable. She asked me if, by any chance, I had been in the hospital in January of that year. Indeed, I had been. Her rationale for asking was based on the fact that my biopsy showed I had genotype 1a of the Hepatitis C virus, the strain that commonly comes from hospital infections, often from unsterile equipment. Further, she was able to deduce from the biopsy that I had contracted the virus just two months previously.