CHOLERA IN MICHOACÀN AND THE FEDERALIZATIÓN OF SANITARY POLITICS IN THE XIX CENTURY

Abstract

Cholera was one of the illnesses that provoked the greatest death rates in the
world during the eighteenth century. In Mexico, the states of Chiapas, Tabasco
and Oaxaca were the most affected during the period from 1882-1883, and
the people of Michoacan suffered the effects of this illness in 1833 and 1850.
In times when the possibility of cholera infection in the country or state
alarmed the authorities of Mexico and Michoacan each evaluated specific
necessary personal and public hygiene measures, and these were elaborated
with the help of medical institutions. In case of the epidemics of 1833 and
1850, the sanitary politics in Michoacan were demonstrated in new laws and
with the dissemination of curative methods designed by the Protomedicato
and the Faculty of Medicine and their approved by the state government