A Century of Scientific Dissemination

Considered as the origins of Revista de Saúde Pública, the Boletins do Instituto de Higiene de São Paulo were published during 27 years, between 1919 and 1946. In addition, there arealso the Arquivos da Faculdade de Higiene e Saúde Pública, which in 1947 succeeded the Boletins. In 1967 the publication of Revista de Saúde Pública began, and in 2021 the journal celebrated 55 years of uninterrupted existence.

In 1919, the first bulletin of the Institute of Hygienewas published, created in the previous year as an annex of the School of Medicine and Surgery of São Paulo. The publication – which featured an article about measures to fight malaria adopted in Malaysia, written by the American professor Samuel Taylor Darling, the first director of the institute – markedthe beginning of a strong presence of researchers associated with the School of Public Health in the field of scientific communication.

Published over the course of 27 years, between 1919 and 1946, the Boletins do Instituto de Higiene de São Paulo had 88 issues, being theirperiodicity marked by irregularity – in 1925 and 1926, no issue was released, while in the same decade 43 bulletins were published, almost half of the total, with 12 issues in 1928 and eight in 1929. The scientific articles – generally one per issue – were signed by leading researchers in the field of Public Health in São Paulo and Brazil, and most researchers were members of the institute. The four initial issues havearticles bythe first two directors of the Institute, respectively the American professors Samuel Taylor Darling – “Sobre algumas medidas anti-malaricas em Malaya” [About some antimalaria measures in Malaya] (bulletin no. 1); “Pesquizas recentes – sobre a opilação na Indonésia” [Recent research on ancylostomosis in Indonesia] (bulletin no. 2) – and Wilson George Smillie – “Intoxicação pelo Betanaphtol no tratamento da uncinariose” [Beta-naphtol intoxication in uncinariasis treatment] (bulletin no. 3); and “O predomínio da Leptospira ictero-hemorrhagica nos ratos de S. Paulo” [Predominance of Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae in rats of São Paulo] and “Bacillos semelhantes aos da peste, encontrados nos ratos da cidade de S. Paulo” [Bacillus similar to those of the plague found in rats of the city of São Paulo] (bulletin no. 4-5).

From1922, bulletin no. 8 hasthe article “Questões de hygiene: a febre typhoide em S. Paulo e o seu histórico” [Hygiene issues: typhoid fever in São Paulo and its history], written by the Public Health physician Emílio Ribas, the researcher who led the eradication of the yellow fever mosquito in the countryside of São Paulo and proposed, as director of the Health Service of the State, the creation of Instituto Butantan, at the beginning of the 20th century. Among the authors who frequently wrote the bulletins, Prof. Geraldo H. de Paula Souza stands out, who became the director of the institute in 1922, replacing Smillie. His first article – “O Estado de São Paulo e alguns de seus serviços de saude publica” [São Paulo State and some of its Public Health services] – was published in bulletin no. 17, in 1923; more than a decade later, in 1936, he published the emblematic “Centro de Saúde ‘Eixo’ da OrganizaçãoSanitária” [‘Axis’Health Center of Public Health Organization] (bulletin no. 59).

Only one woman, Helena Leite e Silva, published in the Boletins. Along with Prof. Lucas de Assumpção, she is the author of the article “Variações sazonais de bacteriófagos tífico-paratíficos nas águas dos rios da cidade de São Paulo” [Seasonal variations of typhoid and para-typhoid bacteriophages at rivers of the city of São Paulo], introduced in issue no. 78, 1942.

The publication, predecessor of Revista de Saúde Pública, is not only a valuable historical record of the academic and scientific production and development of the institution, but also an indicator of the main characteristics of the health-disease process in the country in the period.

In the first issue, released in June 1947, a text byProf. Geraldo H. de Paula Souza, director of the institution at the time, announces the guiding principles of Arquivos, which succeeded the Boletins do Instituto de Higiene. Published between 1919 and 1945, the collection of bulletins will also be scanned.

At Portal de Revistas da USP [USP Journals Portal] you can access Arquivos at http://www.revistas.usp.br/afhsp/ or consulting the alphabetical indexes, by knowledge area or unit.

Extracted from:

Blog of the Library of the School of Public Health – USP – available from http://www.biblioteca.fsp.usp.br/blog/index.php/2015/05/20/biblioteca-da-faculdade-de-saude/

Blog of the Library of the School of Public Health – USP – available from http://www.biblioteca.fsp.usp.br/blog/index.php/2014/11/06/biblioteca-da-fspusp-disponibiliza/