ROADS, ENDEMIC DISEASES AND THE PROCESS OF OPENING ROADS AND RAILWAYS IN WEST PAULISTA

Abstract

In the contexto of the expansion of agricultural frontiers, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the West of São Paulo, whith the construction of railways and roads, this region became endemic for several diseases, such as yellow fever, among wokers in the construction of the railways. In this way, we seek to analyze the spread of yellow fever in that region, and the theories about causes and treatments that circulated in the border cities, through the newspapers of the city of Jaboticabal. A transition can be seen in the miasma theory to the perspective of the microbial theory as a formo f disease transmission.