Luiz Antonio Teixeira

Os primórdios da vacina antivariólica em São Paulo: uma história pouco conhecida

This discussion of smallpox prevention practices in the state of Sao Paulo focuses primarily on the Instituto Vacinogenico, created in 1892 as part of a sanitation reform that modernized public health in Sao Paulo state. Established and headed until 1913 by the renowned Sao Paulo surgeon Arnaldo Vieira de Carvalho, the institute was responsible for statewide distribution of the smallpox vaccine derived from animals. It operated on its own until 1918, when it was made part of the Instituto Bacteriologico.

O controle do câncer no Brasil na primeira metade do século XX

The article discusses public efforts to control cancer in Brazil from the 1920s to the close of the 1940s. It examines the process which brought about creation of the Inspectorship to Combat Leprosy, Venereal Diseases, and Cancer within the National Department of Public Health. Creation of the Inspectorship was the first public action to target cancer and, while it was not far-reaching, its emergence enables us to understand the professional field of cancer at that time. The text also points to the role played by the diffusion of electrosurgery in expanding medical interest about cancer and in the founding of the Cancerology Center in the Federal District. It discusses the establishment and first decade of activities of the National Cancer Service, endeavoring to link the Services initial profile with the issues that guided its history.

Reforma sanitária e a criação do Sistema Único de Saúde: notas sobre contextos e autores.

Within the context of the return to democracy, the new constitution enacted in 1988 transformed health into an individual right and initiated the process of creating a public, universal and decentralized health system, profoundly altering the organization of public health in Brazil. This article discusses the main institutional, political and social aspects of this health reform, along with the changes, the continuities and the major initiatives, based on the literature published by the most widely read authors in this field of study. Without purporting to offer an exhaustive analysis, we discuss how the historiography written by authors who were also actors in the process assess its main features, along with the genesis of the process and the legacy of health reform in Brazil.

Imperfect tools for a difficult job: Colposcopy, ‘colpocytology’ and screening for cervical cancer in Brazil:

The quasi-totality of social scientists who studied screening for cervical tumours identified such screening with a single method: the Pap smear (exfoliative cytology). This article explains that this method was not valid everywhere. The history of screening for cervical cancer in Brazil displays an alternative method for detecting cervical malignancies: a direct observation of the cervix with a specific instrument — the colposcope. The development of this method in Brazil in the 1940s and 1950s reflected a complex mixture of professional interests, government policies, and regional, local and charitable initiatives. While the use of colposcopy for cervical tumour screening was phased out in the 1970s and 1980s, the long lifespan and widespread diffusion of this method illuminates the irreducible contingency of specific developments in science, technology and medicine. Seen from the vantage point of Brazil, the Western model for preventing cervical malignancies no longer appears self-evident. Alternative choices might have led to the development of different material and visual cultures of medicine, stimulated different patterns of medical specialization and division of medical labour, produced different links between malignancies, women, gynaecologists, epidemiologists and public health experts, and shaped different health policies.

Da transmissão hídrica a culicidiana: a febre amarela na sociedade de medicina e cirurgia de São Paulo

This paper deals with the discussions about the ways of yellow fever transmission that took place between the years of 1896 and 1900 in the Sociedade de Medicina e Cirurgia de Sao Paulo, and centers around the figure of one of the most important physicians of the period, Luis Pereira Barreto. It discusses the main arguments defended by the physicians involved in the controversies and shows the contribution of that society in the process of the acceptance of the theory of culicidean transmission of the disease in Brazil.

Da raça à doença em Casa-grande e senzala

The article analyzes how Gilberto Freyre addresses health-related issues in his book Master and slave. The first point of focus is how the sanitation movement that emerged in the sertao region in the late 1910s influenced Freyres essay. The article next endeavors to understand the relation between Freyres emphasis on the problem of syphilis in Brazil and the issues of race and miscegenation, both of which are constants in his works. Lastly, the article endeavors to situate Freyres ideas within the ideological framework of eugenics that was in fashion in Brazil at the time his works were written.

From gynaecology offices to screening campaigns: a brief history of cervical cancer prevention in Brazil

This paper discusses the knowledge and medical practices relating to cervical cancer in Brazil. It analyses the growing medical interest in the disease at the beginning of the twentieth century, the development of prevention techniques in the 1940s, and the emergence of screening programs in the 1960s. It argues that the development of knowledge on cervical cancer was related simultaneously to a number of factors: transformations in medical knowledge, the development of the idea that the disease should be treated as a public health problem, the increased concerns with womens health, and major changes to the Brazilian healthcare system. The article concludes by identifying a number of issues that are still proving to be obstacles to control of the disease.

As campanhas educativas contra o câncer

The article explores the history of cancer education campaigns, their role in disease control policies, and the changes they underwent between 1920 and 1950. Through images, we see how concepts that arose in the early twentieth century have persisted in the field of cancerology. Medical arguments about the great likelihood of curing the disease were grounded on two things: early diagnosis and specialized medical treatment. The notion of prevention also figured in, with the main form of protection believed to be avoidance of any external cause of tissue irritation. Although the aesthetics of these campaigns has shifted over time, including efforts to attract the public and call their attention to the dangers of the disease, their conceptual basis has remained the same.

Is allastrim small pox

Between 1910 and 1913, two renowned physicians in the city of Sao Paulo found themselves engaged in a scientific controversy regarding the classification of a disease then assailing the state. Antonio Carini, director of the Instituto Pasteur de Sao Paulo, believed the illness to be small pox, while Emilio Ribas, director of the Servico Sanitario, claimed it was allastrim, or milk pox. The controversy started in the Sociedade de Medicina e Cirurgia but later migrated to other forums and came to incorporate other figures as well. This presentation and discussion of the polemic is meant as a contribution to our understanding of the process by which a scientific consensus is constructed and solidified within the field of the biomedical sciences.Between 1910 and 1913, two renowned physicians in the city of Sao Paulo found themselves engaged in a scientific controversy regarding the classification of a disease then assailing the state. Antonio Carini, director of the Instituto Pasteur de Sao Paulo, believed the illness to be small pox, while Emilio Ribas, director of the Servico Sanitario, claimed it was allastrim, or milk pox. The controversy started in the Sociedade de Medicina e Cirurgia but later migrated to other forums and came to incorporate other figures as well. This presentation and discussion of the polemic is meant as a contribution to our understanding of the process by which a scientific consensus is constructed and solidified within the field of the biomedical sciences.

Pensar o Sistema Único de Saúde do século XXI: entrevista com Lígia Bahia

This interview with Ligia Bahia explores evaluations of the first 25 years of Brazil’s Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS) and analyzes the project’s progress, impasses, and missteps. Bahia is critical of both tendencies currently found within SUS: the one that sees the system as aimed at equity and the other posing equality as its goal. She criticizes the ambivalence that various spheres of government have displayed in their decisions regarding large corporate groups and private health insurance plans, which conflict with the ideas of SUS. She evaluates the participation of doctors and other healthcare professionals in the system. Lastly, she analyzes the emergence of identity politics, which are missing from the public health reform project, whose emphasis was on equality.