The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic killed over 50 million people worldwide. It became evident to research scientists that understanding the exceptional contagious properties of this invisible virus could aid in the prediction of future influenza pandemics. But there was a problem. There were no virus specimens available to study. A small ocean-side village in Alaska would become crucial to the re-discovery of the 1918 virus.

This historical marker honors Eskimos who are buried here in Brevig Mission, Alaska. On November 15, 1918, a horrible virus struck the entire Eskimo village. By the end of the week, 72 out of the 80 village adults had died. It was the dreaded 1918 Spanish flu! A mass gravesite was created at Brevig Mission, marked only by small white crosses on a hill. The graves were frozen in permafrost and left untouched for 33 years.

In 1951 Johan Hultin, a 25-year-old Swedish microbiologist and Ph.D. student at the University of Iowa, set out on an expedition to Brevig Mission, Alaska. He had hopes of finding the 1918 virus and in the process un-earth new insights and answers to questions like where did it come from or why it was so deadly? The excavation took days, because the team had to create campfires to thaw the earth enough to allow for digging. Ultimately, Hultin successfully obtained lung tissue from five bodies buried at the site. Once back in Iowa, the virus hunter attempted to inject the lung tissue into chicken eggs to get the virus to grow. Unfortunately, the long arduous trip from Alaska to Iowa rendered the samples useless. Nearly 50 years later, in 1997, Hultin would have another opportunity to pursue the 1918 virus. Hultin came across an article in the journal “Science” written by pathologist Jeffery Taubenberger who was looking for samples of the 1918 flu. Inspired after a phone call with Dr. Taubenberger, Hultin left for Brevig Mission a week later. The Indiana Jones of the scientific set was now 72 years old. The excavation took about five days, but this time Hultin made a remarkable find. Buried about 7 feet deep was the body of an Inuit woman that Hultin named “Lucy.” Her lungs were perfectly frozen and preserved in the Alaskan permafrost. Hultin removed them, placed them in preserving fluid, and shipped them to Taubenberger and his fellow researchers at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Ten days later, Hultin received a call from the scientists. To everyone’s collective astonishment —positive 1918 virus genetic material had indeed been obtained from Lucy’s lung tissue. Virologists have called it the largest breakthrough in years, a discovery that could save many lives. Only time will tell if the work of these virus hunters can save us from our next influenza pandemic.

This is part of our 1918 Spanish Flu series.

In the third video, Virus Hunters look to re-discovery the 1918 Spanish Flu:
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In the second video, President Wilson gets the flu:
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In the first video of the series, Virus kills $50 Million:
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