Abstract

HERRERA-RODRIGUEZ, Francisco. Smallpox mortality in Jerez de la Frontera (1880-1895). Temperamentvm [online]. 2020, vol.16, e12980.  Epub June 06, 2022. ISSN 1699-6011.

We have studied in this article the mortality caused by smallpox in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz, Spain), over a long period of time (1880-1895), an endemic disease in the city that especially affected in the first ages of life. The epidemic that caused this disease, in the aforementioned locality in 1882, has also been studied both in its morbidity and mortality aspects. The epidemic took place in the context of a social and economic crisis that hit the city. We have used various documentary sources, mainly from the Municipal Archive and from the Jerez Public Libraries, highlighting the Cemetery register log books, as well as reports or writings by doctors such as José María Escudero Franco and Manuel Ruiz de la Rabia, with special emphasis on proposals for preventive measures, especially in the problem of vaccinations and revaccinations, from the sixties to the eighties of the nineteenth century.

Keywords : Smallpox; Epidemic; Endemic; Infantile mortality; Vaccination; 19th century; Jerez de la Frontera.