After the success of the SC concept, there was a period of setbacks.

Psittacosis – A Matter of Life and Death

It started in June 1992 with a mild sore throat, much like when you’re coming down with a cold. Since it didn’t go away, I sought medical help in early July. The doctor diagnosed it as a mild cold and said it would clear up within a week.

Instead, I developed a 40°C (104°F) fever, became completely exhausted, and started having memory lapses. My family and I were living in our house on the outskirts of Stockholm’s southern archipelago at the time. My wife booked a spot on the ferry to the mainland and drove me to the local hospital.

The doctor couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. She had the lab take samples from me and then referred me to the large hospital in Södermalm, Stockholm. An X-ray showed pneumonia in both lungs, but even there they couldn’t determine the cause.

Experts at what is now known as Karolinska University Hospital – Huddinge were contacted and received the preliminary test results and X-ray findings. They concluded that the cause was likely psittacosis, a rare disease that affects fewer than ten people annually in Sweden.

None of the doctors I spoke with had ever treated a patient with the disease. I was put on antibiotics. Naturally, I was bedridden, and after a week, the fever began to subside.

The diagnosis was correct, the right antibiotics were prescribed, and they were effective. I usually never take medication without a prescription, especially not antibiotics, given the risk of resistance, particularly when they are truly needed, as in this case.

In the past, psittacosis had a high mortality rate. However, thanks to the introduction of antibiotics, it dropped dramatically starting in the 1950s, and continued to decline until it reached its current low level for those who receive the right treatment. However, some people never regain full working capacity due to long-term aftereffects.

COVID-19

Much later, the pandemic broke out. The first confirmed case was reported in Sweden on January 31, 2020, and in Stockholm on February 27. That was when I stopped going out in public. I realized there were parallels in how severe respiratory infections develop. The causes of death in psittacosis were similar to those in the COVID-19 outbreak.

Surprisingly, the first credible medical news article I found was in Ny Teknik, a Swedish weekly magazine on technology and engineering.

The article discussed how medical research laboratories in the U.S. were collaborating to conduct a rapid preliminary study on how the virus spreads. The researchers concluded that it likely was through the air in the form of aerosols over distances of up to a few meters, as well as through contact with objects contaminated by an infected person.

Shortly thereafter, a Swedish doctor appeared on the TV news to explain that her patients were dying of severe pneumonia due to the pandemic. I wanted to form my own opinion on how I should act. My airways have been sensitive since childhood. Back then, I often had croup.

I read relevant medical scientific articles, including those on previous pandemics such as the one that broke out in Kansas in 1918. It spread to Europe via American soldiers. The flu, caused by the H1N1 virus, killed between 50 and 100 million people. Aerosols were not the primary cause of transmission in that case, if I understand correctly.

I drew this conclusion early on and recognized the similarities with psittacosis, even though psittacosis is caused by a bacterium and COVID-19 is caused by a virus. Psittacosis is spread by infected birds through dust containing the bacteria or through direct contact with their droppings.

Although it was never determined exactly how I became infected, I undoubtedly had close contact with birds where we lived. Our house in the archipelago is located in a nature reserve with a rich bird population.

In early March 2020, the Public Health Agency of Sweden began airing informational segments on TV. Given the lack of scientific information at the time, these segments were a great help. I watched the programs regularly and listened to the advice.

Sweden faced global criticism, even from its Nordic neighbors, for trying to maintain a normal life with fewer restrictions than other countries. Despite intense pressure from the outside world, one of the strengths of our culture is that we dare to go our own way.

In the end, our mortality rate was no higher than in our neighboring countries, where it was also low. However, the impact on daily life was significantly greater there than in Sweden.

Thanks to the rapid global development of a vaccine in less than a year, the death toll never reached the levels seen between 1918 and 1920. Dr. Katalin Karikó and Dr. Drew Weissman were behind the groundbreaking science that made this possible.

In 2023, they were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work. They had to fight to continue their science in a medical world that was initially unsupportive.

The Autumn When Sweden Hit Rock Bottom

The Nordic market for fiber optic products was limited, and the Swedish economy was in poor shape. Scan Fiber Opto AB found itself in a difficult situation. The company relied on my expertise and my network of contacts.

Even before I fell ill, I had heard through the grapevine that our main supplier had been having problems with its operations. My wife, who worked as an engineer at an architectural firm, stepped in to make the best of the situation, even though our industries were very different.

On September 16, 1992, Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, raised the interest rate to 500% for a short period. Our customers were hit hard. We had to shut down the company. At that point, it was about doing what was best for the employees.

My former minority partners were no longer involved. One had previously been prohibited from running a business alongside his regular job, and the other had lost interest. My wife arranged support for my employees. As an entrepreneur, I received neither support nor assistance from the community.

In this context, I would like to thank business lawyer Kent Hägglund. He has been a great help to me with legal matters since the 1980s and continued to be so. The financial advisors I hired for the company were a great help. They gave my wife the support she needed.

Progress – and a Slap in the Face

Let’s go back to the truly bleak summer of 1992. By fall, I was on the road to recovery but faced an uncertain future. Later, I read about a hunter who had the same illness as me. He took early retirement because he couldn’t return to work.

A relative of a relative had also been affected. She was about thirty years old at the time and had only 30% lung capacity left, a permanent disability.

I underwent a comprehensive medical evaluation early that winter. A nurse performed a stress ECG on me. When she saw the results, she asked if I had been an elite athlete. “No,” I replied. “But I’ve been involved in sports since I was a child.” “Given the circumstances, your results are good,” she said.

I remember that incident very well. It was the first time in a long while that someone outside my family had praised me. But that joy didn’t last long. Shortly thereafter, I received a letter from the Social Insurance Agency offering me early retirement. I was furious!

I was fighting to get back into the workforce but had started to make progress when the letter arrived and ruined everything. It was like a slap in the face that made me feel like a has-been with no hope for the future. The Christmas and New Year’s celebrations were ruined for me.

BOH Optical AB

I ran BOH Optical AB as a side project at the time, without any employees. There, I managed the company’s knowledge base and development from the 1980s onward, while also conducting self-funded photonics research part-time.

My work focused on the fundamental theory of photons. I have been fascinated by it since high school, and I am still working on it.

The first Nobel lecture I ever attended was held at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH). I was studying for a Master of Science in Engineering Physics there when it took place. Ahead of the 1973 award ceremony, Dr. Brian Josephson gave a lecture on the Josephson effect, also known as quantum tunneling.

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was particularly interesting and gave me an idea that might lead me in the right direction. Now, the prize was mainly about experimentally demonstrating Dr. Josephson’s theory, which meant that the circle was complete.

The Road Back

Just over a year later, in the fall of 1993, I was considered fully recovered. I started consulting in my firm BOH Optical AB.

Later, a colleague of mine, who had a similar background to mine when it came to running his own business, contacted me and asked if I was interested in a position at Ericsson. His name was Ola Hulthén, and he was the head of the department that developed and manufactured splicing machines for fiber optics. This technology and business had been founded in the 1980s by the aforementioned Uwe Böttcher in an earlier blog by me.

The office was located in Ericsson’s premises in Sundbyberg, a town near Stockholm where I lived. By that time, my family had moved back into our permanent home: a town house. I started working at Ericsson on February 1, 1995, after being hired. One of my first assignments was to work with the former head of the Sundbyberg office to resolve an issue within the Indian organization.

How that turned out, as well as all the other interesting events within the Ericsson Group, you’ll find out in my next blog post.

Next blog

My next blog post is scheduled to be published on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. It will cover the topic “Last mile.”

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