Swine Flu and Avian Influenza have caused rising public health concerns in recent years. Fears of a potential global pandemic continue to haunt us. These fears are not without precedence. In the autumn of 1918, an influenza pandemic wreaked havoc around the world. The global death toll from the 1918 pandemic was 100 million people, with 8,500 Connecticut residents losing their lives to the disease. In contrast, casualties from World War I, occurring at the time of the pandemic, were 16 million. The 1918 Influenza Pandemic has risen to new prominence given the current concerns, and is being intensely studied in an effort to understand and prevent future global pandemics. Dr. Ralph Arcari, professor of The History of Medicine at the UConn School of Medicine, will share how this disease arrived in Connecticut with unprecedented virulence and swept throughout the state to claim the lives of so many, particularly those in the prime of life. Dr. Arcari will then discuss what epidemiological lessons the 1918 Flu has for us today.