In a Pandemic, We Look for Glimmers of Hope and Find It in Johan Hultin
Some 800 miles south of Seattle lives a man who knows a little something about pandemic viruses. He's 95 now. Supposedly surrendering his memory to Father Time, he still packs around great knowledge.
In his fascinating story, Sports Illustrated's Michael McKnight describes Dr. Johan Hultin as part Indiana Jones, part Anthony Fauci. Part adventurer and part clinician. A hero no less.
Hultin twice spent time trekking through the Alaska wilderness -- in 1951 and again in 1997 -- searching for clues to the 1918 Spanish flu that killed a third of the world population.
This Swedish native, now winding down the years of a life well lived in a retirement community in Walnut Creek, California, always felt a global pandemic was not far away and would invade his lifetime.
This stark determination compelled a dedicated and determined Hultin to seek out answers in a well-preserved Alaskan burial ground, with permission of course.
He rode on bush planes and Native boats to get there. This quest made him sift through the permafrost and examine the remains of unlucky victims.
Now nearly a quarter of a century following his second and last visit, Hultin watches the world frozen in place by a somewhat silent, highly contagious killer.
The most pressing question to this man is what comes next? Can we survive this strain of unrepentant disease?
So well schooled on this subject, Hultin has some interesting viewpoints to offer all of us. Read Michael McKnight's well-done chronicle of this virus hunter. It's nice to know there are people like the good doctor out there.