(Smallpox, typhus, and measles are still among us, which have been full of pleasantries.) (?)
Marcolino: “Dr. Carlos Chagas [discoverer of the eponymous disease, AKA trypanosomiasis] shouldn’t be going to Europe now.”
Mr. Mosquito: “And; the sanitary state of the city demands his presence and a lot of work.”
“I’m not lacking for that. And in Europe, the ship on which he travels can be “interdicted”…”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1926) (This translation clearly wants improvement.)
Public health physician writing official order that no more than three persons can live in this room: “But how can we fight tuberculosis if there is no housing, if poor people live piled up together?!… Carry out the orders at last! This room only has space for three people… Write!”
A tenant next door to the crowded room: “Hey, doc! I saw that sign you made and I’m telling you that your account is wrong! This room is the same size as that one, and all the people you see live here: me, my wife, my six–nearly seven–children, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, and…
Physician: “What! Even more people?”
Tenant: “… and inside, Doctor, I still have a painting with the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity!”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1907)
(Clementino Fraga was Brazil’s top public health official, best known for working to eradicate yellow fever in Rio de Janeiro.)
Yellow fever (to bubonic plague): “Now, my dear, my turn has come…”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1928)
Regarding mortuary statistics and the pursuit of official hygiene toward plague, yellow fever, smallpox, scarlet fever and croup:
Syphilis: “The public health fight against our illustrious colleagues continues over there…”
Tuberculosis: “And in the meantime (coughing), we are very comfortable here (coughing)… There is nothing (coughing) like doing the job by the sidewalk… (coughing). We arrange more casualties annually (coughing) than all boisterous ailments together (coughing) and we are not uncomfortable…”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1914)
(The American consul congratulates Brazilians on their progress in the campaign against yellow fever in the northern state of Pará. I think the title puns on the sense of “stopping.”)
O Malho‘s homage to the illustrious governor of Pará, Dr. João Coelho, and to Dr. Oswaldo Cruz, for the meritorious public health work of Pará state, the beginning of a new era of growth for this region, until now so neglected by the powers of the Republic.
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1911)
“Now, with the arrival of German doctors, is yellow fever turning blue? I’m purple for seeing this…”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1904)
Oswaldo Cruz [prominent Brazilian bacteriologist]: “Get thee hence, in the name of science!”
Smallpox: “What science? Jenner’s? That’s known to me for 85 years and it still rides an ox cart in Brazil, whereas I already drive a car…
Thrive and flourish!”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1908)
Oswaldo Cruz [Brazilian public health figure]: “Look here, plague of the devil! You are now making fun with me… I have the law for the expulsion of foreigners. It’s empty plates for you! I’ll throw you out of the bar!”
The Plague: “Sir? As long as there are mice and crap, and as long as little more is done out there against them than fumigation and reports… I have the habeas corpus guaranteed and I will stay here as well as in my seven country houses! I will not go!”
(Note how the scythe is no longer only Asiatic, but now also Levantine and American.)
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1907)
General Oswaldo Cruz [Brazilian public health champion]: “Withdraw, you infamous woman! Get out of my sight, or else I will smash you!”
The Plague: “I will neither withdraw nor vanish! You are the foreigner in this city! Go take care of Rio de Janeiro and leave Campos to me.”
(The fight is blocked; but if the municipality of Campos does not carry out sanitation projects and the local public health authorities do not pursue the enemy daily… Hmm!!!)
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1906)
Oswaldo Cruz [leading Brazilian bacteriologist and public health figure]: “Oh! terrible phantasm! You’re back here again?! How horrible!”
Yellow: “Hahaha! Did you think I was afraid of your sulfur fumes? Don’t be scared, man! I just came to prove to you that I don’t die of scowls and to warn you that I need some more to close the door in my face… Goodbye! Hahaha!”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1905)
How’s this for aggressive drug advertising: Though it is labeled as combating all liver diseases, Pariquyna is portrayed as vanquishing a serpent-squid representing many other diseases, and the surrounding endorsements list hepatitis, dysentery, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, and syphilis as targets for its effects. Even bacteriologist Oswaldo Cruz was appropriated.
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1905)
Priests: “Deliver us from smallpox, o patron saint!”
Chorus: “Ora pro nobis!“
Oswaldo Cruz [pioneering Brazilian bacteriologist, on the left, with full head of hair and mustache]: “Yes, sir! What a multitude of people! What faith! Before these prayers of the Church the science of the State is barred. I shall decidedly leave! There is nothing else I can do!”
[Minister of Justice J.J.] Seabra: “Leave ?! Don’t talk about it! We will follow the procession to the end.”
[President Francisco de Paula Rodrigues] Alves: “Yes… Yes… Because I am not carrying the Cross [Cruz!] of hygiene to Calvary alone!…”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1904) (Compare Seabra versus Oswaldo)
“Have you been vaccinated against the plague?”
“I think that this bite from my mother-in-law is enough…”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1903)
(Concerns that cholera is transported in the holds of ships are leading to rigorous disinfection of parcels at ports of entry.)
Postman: “Even more of this!… In addition to being poorly paid, I have to work with this devil in sight, promising me a scythe in the neck.
Not even carrying it with tongs am I free of… fear!”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1910)
The Spanish flu, the new ally of the Kaiser.
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1918)
Sic Transit Pestilentia 