[City-laboratory: Campinas and yellow fever at the dawn of the Republican era]. / Cidade-laboratório: Campinas e a febre amarela na aurora republicana.

In the late nineteenth century, there were yellow fever epidemics in Campinas. Considered a seaside disease, the fever startled lay people and physicians. The scientific debate about the etiology of the disease left the domain of magazines and medical correspondence to orient political and sanitary actions. In order to combat the disease, the city began to resemble a laboratory and experienced its "era of sanitation and demolition," with victories over the ailment and inconvenience to the public. The State Sanitary Commission led by Emilio Ribas, aware of Finlay's Culicidae theory, rehearsed in Campinas what would happen with Oswaldo Cruz and Pereira Passos in Rio de Janeiro. The novelty of combating mosquitoes coexisted with age-old practices dear to miasmatic theory, such as disinfection.

Cidade-laboratório: Campinas e a febre amarela na aurora republicana / City-laboratory: Campinas and yellow fever at the dawn of the Republican era

No final do século XIX ocorreram epidemias de febre amarela em Campinas. Considerada doença litorânea, a febre assustou leigos e médicos. O debate científico sobre a etiologia da doença deixou revistas e correspondências médicas para orientar ações políticas e sanitárias. Visando combater a enfermidade, a cidade ganhou contornos de laboratório e vivenciou sua "era do saneamento e das demolições", com vitórias sobre o achaque e transtornos à população. A Comissão Sanitária Estadual comandada por Emílio Ribas, ciente da teoria culicidiana de Finlay, ensaiou em Campinas o que ocorreria no Rio de Janeiro de Oswaldo Cruz e Pereira Passos. A novidade do combate aos mosquitos conviveu com antigas práticas caras à teoria miasmática, como as desinfecções.

In the late nineteenth century, there were yellow fever epidemics in Campinas. Considered a seaside disease, the fever startled lay people and physicians. The scientific debate about the etiology of the disease left the domain of magazines and medical correspondence to orient political and sanitary actions. In order to combat the disease, the city began to resemble a laboratory and experienced its "era of sanitation and demolition," with victories over the ailment and inconvenience to the public. The State Sanitary Commission led by Emilio Ribas, aware of Finlay's Culicidae theory, rehearsed in Campinas what would happen with Oswaldo Cruz and Pereira Passos in Rio de Janeiro. The novelty of combating mosquitoes coexisted with age-old practices dear to miasmatic theory, such as disinfection.

[Hansen's disease in the laboratory]. / A hanseniase no laboratório.

A physical doctor with a PhD in Pathology, Euzenir Nunes Sarno studies the immunology factors of Hansen's disease, one of the oldest chronic infections and that is an exclusively human disease. Staff member of an ambulatory that has become a reference on the disease in Brazil with 220 to 250 new patients per year, Euzenir emphasizes that the fact one cannot cultivate Mycobacterium leprae brings about some everlasting questions in relation to the transmission of and the sensitivity to the disease. There are also many epidemiology questions that remain unanswered. Estimates show that, among those who have contact with multi-bacilli patients, 90% are infected but only about 8% get sick. The high infection rate of those who live with multi-bacilli patients but never fall sick shows that just a small number of individuals are sensitive to Mycobacterium leprae. This is one of the questions immunology has not been able to answer. Why do some people resist to it and some don't? The figures are even lower when compared to those who are in contact with patients that are paucibacillus-infected, i.e. a manifestation of the disease with few bacilli. Hansen's disease is known as a skin malady. But, according to the specialist, its first damage is to the nerve, when the area becomes insensitive. Besides damaging the sensitive skin nerves, the disease can lead to motor disability and irreversible deformities, which sometimes lead to the amputation of limbs and protruded parts of the body. Mycobacterium leprae was one of the first pathogenic bacteria whose genome sequence has been entirely mapped. Only now we have the capacity to have more precise assessments. The disease is not inherited, and only in 1986 health services in Brazil began to take the responsibility for both the disease and its patients. During the twenty-year military dictatorship the country underwent, the health system was dismantled. In 1991, the one-year treatment with three drugs - Dapsone, Rifanpicine and Clofazimine- was introduced in our country. Just 30% of the cases get to negative results after the treatment. according to the interviewee, whereas tuberculosis is a highly virulent multi-bacilli disease, leprosy bacillus is not virulent, is a 'lazy' germ at the end of its evolutional process. One third of its genome does not work.