When influenza returned in a more destructive form in the 1918 and 1919 pandemic, the disease was more deadly than historians have previously estimated. Only in the last couple of months has Covid-19 killed more Brazilians in overall numbers, but the 1918-19 pandemic killed many more as a percentage of Brazil\u2019s population. Read and Musacchio draw comparisons to Brazil\u2019s Covid-19 response to show how mitigation measures and government actions continue to be prone to politicization, despite a century of improved epidemiological understanding and social change. Governments find it difficult to mitigate disease outbreaks and balance conflicting priorities \u2013 such as\u00a0health and personal autonomy.<\/p>\n
The findings presented by Read and Musacchio rely primarily on newspapers, provincial reports, physicians\u2019 statements, governmental publications, and other archival sources. These sources uncover the social-political discourse that accompanied influenza and shaped mitigation policies, or lack thereof. Here, remnants of \u201cfake news,\u201d denial of disease, and faulty remedies for influenza echo the media frenzy of the Covid-19 pandemic (Silva, 2017). Government publications and officials\u2019 statements also demonstrate the striking similarity to current policies, as politicians inconsistently employing social distancing measures and failing to provide financial support to struggling families (Bertolli Filho, 1986). Read and Musacchio emphasize how the necessary policies for \u201c\u2018diminishing agglomerations\u2019 ran the risk of the \u2018more terrible evil\u2019: hunger, unemployment, and destitution of whole families\u201d (11). This social historiography demonstrates how diseases do not exist in a vacuum, but are inherently shaped by society and politics.<\/p>\n
The authors also analyze the effects of these policies and reactions on mortality rates, particularly in rural regions. Whereas previous estimates of death tolls relied solely on urban rates (Johnson, Mueller, 2002), Read and Musacchio may be the first to include rural estimates for the country, where the majority of the population resided until the late twentieth century. Based on a broader base of historical sources and regions, Read and Musacchio calculate between 266,000 and 590,000 people died in Brazil from the 1918-19 influenza pandemic.\u00a0 Rates varied from city to city, as we can see in the following figure:<\/p>\n
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Flu continued to be a serious problem after the 1918-19 pandemic. While the international community suffered from waves of influenza in 1957, 1968, 1976, and 2009, Brazil remained relatively untouched by this global threat. Read and Musacchio stipulate that this misalignment \u201cwith other infamous pandemics help explain why Covid-19 was discounted and derided,\u201d offering a historical context and explanation to the current state of Covid-19 in Brazil (15).<\/p>\n Covid-19 and influenza are different diseases, but they are comparable. And as the first virus with comparable magnitude to the 1918-19 influenza, Covid-19 reminds Brazil that respiratory diseases remain a serious threat, as do the consequences of misguided health and economic policies. To see the Covid-19 pandemic as \u201cunprecedented\u201d discredits influenza\u2019s role in more than a century of public health policies. Thus, to prepare for a healthier, more prosperous future, we must understand the history of influenza.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n About the authors:<\/p>\n Ian Olivo Read, Professor of Latin American Studies; Co-Director of the Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Human Rights \u2013 iread@soka.edu<\/a> (Aliso Viejo, California, United States)<\/p>\n Aldo Musacchio, Professor of Management and Economics\u2013 aldom@brandeis.edu<\/a> (Waltham, Massachusetts, United States); Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research (Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.revistahcsm.coc.fiocruz.br\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screen-Shot-2023-01-06-at-11.18.32-AM.png\")
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