One place, two epidemic moments: yellow fever (1896-1897) and influenza (1918-1919) outbreaks in Campinas, Sao Paulo

Abstract

This study analyses mortality from yellow fever (1896-1897) and influenza (1918-1919) epidemics in the municipality of Campinas (SP, Brazil) during the period of the coffee-based economy, mass immigration and demographic and epidemiologic pre-transition –the end of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century. Such epidemics – transmitted by different agents – have occurred at distinct moments, seasonalities and pace, affecting the various population segments in different ways. They have disseminated through local population, mostly due to the great population mobility, facilitated by the expansion of the railway network in the State of São Paulo during that period, the sanitary and life conditions of the people affected, and the government’s actions. Consequently, they had implications in the dynamics and demographic evolution of the city and its public health policies. For this study, quantitative sources were used, especially Civil Records of Deaths of Campinas, Yearbooks of the Sanitary Services of the State of São Paulo, censuses and other qualitative sources from that period.

Key words
Epidemics; Mortality; Campinas; Late 19th-early 20th century