History is riddled with instances of deadly epidemics — which is why health officials have started to look backward to find the right tactics to take with the Swine Flu. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), for instance, has recruited the help of Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian and pediatrician at the University of Michigan, reports CNN. Markel has studied the flu epidemic of 1918 to see which nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) work best in such situations.

Markel found that NPIs such as closing down schools, limiting public gatherings and isolating infected patients worked wonders in slowing down the spread of the disease in the 1918 epidemic. Of course, the ideal response to an epidemic is to find a vaccine as quickly as possible — not just slow it down. However, Markel points out that, historically, slowing down an epidemic buys time for health officials to find a vaccine.

Time is an invaluable asset when it comes to epidemics. History has also shown us that jumping on a vaccine too early has disastrous consequences. A 1976 epidemic provides evidence of this, reports Time. That year, officials were afraid they were on the verge of an epidemic when an army base in New Jersey was hit with the swine flu (a different strain from what we’re dealing with today). President Ford authorized a vaccination program, but unfortunately, that vaccine was found to cause Guillain-Barré syndrome, a potentially deadly and paralyzing nerve disease.

Nevertheless, a historical perspective has made Markel surprisingly optimistic. Time quotes him as saying that “our surveillance, methodology and public health professionals have never been better.” He suggests that we put trust in the government and be patient.

Worried? Take solace in some historical perspective:
10 Worst Epidemics
How the Black Death Worked
How Plague Works