Staying inside to avoid the flu? Or perhaps you are not convinced that a pandemic would be scarey. Either way, the U.S. National Archives has a solution.

It has posted an online exhitbit about the 1918 pandemic of influenza, the Spanshi Flu that took the lives of 40 million - 100 million people. In this room were all stages of indians lying dead or dying or advancing well to the conditions which followed the flu. Dr. D.A Richardson writes in one letter ot the Bureau of Indian Affairs describing the conditions at a reservation in New Mexico in October 1918.

A nurse from Kansas says "As many as 90 people die here everyday with the flu!"

So far the H1N1 swine flu virus has not been anywhere near as deadly, with 176 suspected deaths in Mexico, on in the United States, and mostly mild cases in other countries. This exhibit, also has a photographs of policemen, typists, and nurses with masks, and trolley operator keeping unmasked passengers from boarding.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/records-list.html