Gripe Espanhola no Baixo- Amazonas: 1918 - 1920

Abstract

The expansion of new themes in the historiographic area from 1970 onwards gave the possibility of new research and studies on the body. Within these possibilities is the study of health and disease. Among these diseases to be studied is the Spanish flu epidemic that occurred in 1918, it claimed many victims because it was a highly contagious and lethal flu. This work intends to show the Spanish flu in the Lower Amazon and tries to answer what were the impacts generated by the flu and what were the reactions of the people and authorities in the period from 1918 to 1920, but first it makes some notes about its appearance, the arrival in Brazil and the Amazon. A bibliographical and documental study was carried out, based on Brazilian and regional researchers, historians and writers, using newspapers from Óbidos and birth records from 1918, 1922 and 1923 from Fundo Cartório Sousa Alho as sources. The Spanish flu impacted society in the Lower Amazon with its rapid transmission and high death rate; people and authorities reacted in different ways according to their possibilities. The Spanish flu in the Lower Amazon, as well as in other parts of Brazil and the world, claimed many victims and this study became important so that the memory of this epidemic is not forgotten and so that this topic is increasingly discussed, researched and known for people.