O “grande destruidor”: a sífilis na Parahyba do Norte durante a seca de 1877-1879

Abstract

In the three-year period from 1877 to 1879, a devastating climatic phenomenon known as the Great Drought befell the Brazilian Northeast. Far from being a mere natural event, the drought became a stage where social, political, and public health crises manifested acutely. Concomitantly, society was analyzed through the lens of Hygienism and Positivism, schools of thought that viewed the social body as an organism vulnerable to physical and moral degeneration. According to the doctors of the time, the process of migration and the resulting urban overcrowding caused by this human flow disturbed and threatened social order. In this complex scenario, this work proposes to analyze the presence and meaning attributed to syphilis in the context of the 1877-1879 Drought in the province of Parahyba do Norte. Drawing on the perspective of the History of Health and Diseases, the research investigates how a highly stigmatized disease associated with morality manifested amidst the crisis, revealing the local elite's priorities in managing the disaster.