The article investigates the Spanish flu epidemic that hit the city of Salvador and the state of Bahia, reaching its height between September and December of 1918. The local press is a primary source in this analysis of power politics, sanitary conditions in the state capital, some economic issues, the material conditions for survival in Salvador, and the fragility of public health and assistance policies - all features of a complex, unequal society made visible by the epidemic.
Spanish flu; epidemics; policy; Bahia
