O surto de peste de 1899: a movimentação dos paulistas narrada pelo jornal O Estado de São Paulo

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the news published by the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo  about the event "outbreak of plague in Santos" that occurred between August 1899 and February 1900, identifying the participation of the actors involved and their official representations. The research used the editions of O Estado of the period as a primary source and carried out a contextualized literature review on the subject. The Health Service acted a lot, which did not replace it scarce resources: there was little anti-pestine serum, and Vital Brazil would not take less than three months to prepare the first sharing. Moreover, many doubts surrounded its effectiveness, since the Yersin serum was under discussion. The plague itself remained powerful: when facing it in the laboratories, even the greatest specialists put themselves at risk. Besides Vital Brasil having fallen ill, Oswaldo Cruz, when he was in Santos to inform the federal government, stayed several days under suspicion of the disease. The Sanitary Service entered the fight against the bubonic plague as the one who would face the yellow fever and, therefore, although he promised, he would not be able to start the disinfection baths at Hospedaria dos Imigrantes.