Everything you need to know about Brazil's first veterinary vaccine and how it was a milestone in history
Things weren't always easy for those who had pets and farm animals, after all, there was a time when there were no vaccines that could protect animals from disease and bacteria. This evolved as science also grew and became what it is today, a true reference. Every day new vaccines are created in order to preserve the health of animals, from dogs to horses and animals that are not necessarily pets, all so that no type of bacteria can spread.
. This change is due to a man named Oswaldo Cruz and, later, to Alcides Godoy, who in the 20th century took the initiative to create the first veterinary vaccine in Brazil.
Below you can see a little more about this story and how this moment became a real milestone for science.
the limp plague
The manqueira plague, or the swollen quarter disease, was a disease that devastated many animals during the 20th century, causing a lot of damage to cattle owners at the time. It is not known for sure where the plague started, but at the time cattlemen from Minas Gerais tried to understand what was happening to calves and younger cattle, which started with a fever and swelling of the animal’s muscles, mainly in the region called “quarters”. , causing muscle atrophy.
Oswaldo Cruz
In 1903, Oswaldo Cruz invited the then medical student Alcides Godoy to be an academic assistant in the Yellow Fever Prophylaxis Service of the General Directorate of Public Health and to work in the production of sera and some vaccines. However, during this period, Oswaldo Cruz already accumulated a lot of work in the position of director, causing research on the plague to remain in the background, until Alcides took it up completely again.
Alcides Godoy
In 1906 Alcides Godoy traveled to Juiz de Fora, in Minas Gerais, in order to carry out the final tests on his research on the plague. It would be the first public demonstration of the vaccine, but Alcides did not have the desired result, and some animals ended up dying in the process.
When he returned from Juiz de Fora, Godoy understood why it had gone wrong: a greater virulence of the batch of vaccine prepared for the test. After correcting the failure, Alcides Godoy returned to the site and finally the vaccines began to take effect. After that, the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz began to manufacture and distribute the vaccine on a commercial scale, starting in 1908, and thus the first veterinary vaccine in Brazil and in the world was born.
It is worth remembering that after obtaining the registration of the vaccine patent, Alcides Godoy also carried out a deed of assignment with the purpose of encouraging the industrial production of the vaccine. In addition, the money obtained from the sale of vaccines covered various expenses and helped the Institute with teaching expenses, without having to resort to government aid. According to official data, from 1906 to 1918, the Oswaldo Cruz Institute produced around 7,111,698 doses of the vaccine against the manqueira plague, in addition to being the most produced biological product at the time, a true milestone for the science of the century. XX and for all vaccines that have been created since then.
