Contagion?

It’s said that many typhus attacks are the result of a mosquito bite… Alas, who can be attacked by a mosquito that I know!
(La Esquella de la torratxa, Barcelona, 1912)

Carnival

“I disguised myself as cholera.”
“It’s a whim …”
“Oh! not a whim. I do it to see if the government gives me anything from the calamity fund.”
(La Esquella de la torratxa, Barcelona, 1912)

“High” cloud appears that sometimes darkens over our heads

(The press is discussing whether a new invasion of mosquitoes could lead to a recurrence of yellow fever.)
(Cloud of mosquitoes labeled “yellow fever,” “purple,” “green,” “blue,” “etc.”)
City of Rio: “Go away, long-legged bandits! Go away, damn vehicles of fevers of all colors! Go away!”
Dr. Seidl: “Don’t be so scared, madame! Here I am armed to the teeth against this horde of mosquitoes!”
Joe Public: “Hey, doc, the lady is right! You can have a lot of strength and a lot of goodwill, but… a swallow just doesn’t make summer! Against this cloud, which darkens the air and appears over our heads, I see only one remedy: the replacement of the strategic killer-mosquito brigade. Are there not so many others here? Because this is useful!…”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1912)

Get back, worm!

(Employing a polite version of the caption.) (The captain of a steamship from Bahia has died of yellow fever. The captain’s wife is quarantined at a local hospital. These facts greatly impressed the public spirit, which was startled by the threat of the invasion of yellow evil.)
Yellow fever: “Make yourself comfortable! This is the paradise of professional freedom!…”
Joe Public (small lecture to officials culminating in:) “Come on, gentlemen! A little energy, against the greatest enemy of our land!”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1912)

Dysentery in Rio

The cause of the epidemic was found to be in poor food. The specter of evil lives there at the point of sale, where the customer is only a question of money and not the belly.
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1912)

Beware of epidemics!

Contagion: “As Minister Plenipotentiary of the Emperor of Infection, I respectfully come forward to present my credentials with the hope that you will want to reestablish the old friendly relations, so unsuccessfully interrupted by the diplomacy of Hygiene. Lady Hygiene having died for lack of care, I do not doubt that our old friendship is now resumed.”

Rio’s poor: “Misericordia! The ambassadors of death are already at the door! [tuberculosis, mendicancy, plague, yellow fever, fake milk, cholera] What kind of diplomacy should I adopt now to drive out such a dangerous band? I will scream and complain at the top of my lungs before tuberculosis destroys us: To arms!”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1912)

No worries

“Is it true, miss, that typhus is contagious?”
“Yes… But it infects only those who have a tendency for it.”
“And that’s again not so dangerous, because who, miss, would want a tendency for typhus.”
(Kogut, Warsaw, 1912)

Initial peace negotiations

Mars negotiates the breakup of Ottoman Turkey with Cholera, seated on a barrel of carbolic acid. Peace the Diplomat approaches the table.
Diplomat: “But you’ve already divided up everything.”
Turk (perched on German Pickelhaube): “Well now I understand what the friendly support of Germany means!”
Russian satirical magazine Ogonek no. 49, 1910.

Cholera, the grim reaper

Le Petit Journal, Paris, 1912
(Note added: image known to many from Frank Snowden’s Epidemics and Society.)