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O IDEAL CIENTIFICISTA POSITIVISTA NO BRASIL E A DESCOBERTA DA DOENÇA DE CHAGAS

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The discovery of Chagas disease is one of the most brilliant and significant in the history of medicine, particularly, of the Brazilian medicine and science. Carlos Chagas is exhibited in the literature as a great scientist who discovered a disease that silently afflicted the backlands of Brazil. From that discovery, the "health look" turns to the most vulnerable populations in the rural and less developed depths of the country. Little has been written about the context that led to that breakthrough, and which conditions made possible such event. Moreover, why that happened in that specific period. At this end of curse paper, we aimed to know which aspects were paramount for the discovery of Chagas disease. It is well understood, a priori, that political and economic issues in the First Republic created a favorable context for its discovery. However, which other elements preceded these questions? Among them, we can list the change in the paradigm of scientific thinking that led to the emergence of positivist philosophy, causing shifts in the direction of actions in the scientific field, unveiling a new coping model for situations in areas of education and health. Therefore, the present work tries to analyze a probable relationship between the discovery of Chagas disease and modern scientific thinking, which emerged in the 19th century, and the positivist ideal, established in Brazil from 1840 on. Likewise, this work aims to characterize the context of Carlos Chagas' education and professional career and what paths he took to qualify as the protagonist of this important outcome, namely, the discovery of an unprecedented disease relevant to the public health of the young Brazilian Republic. Consequently, we intended to elucidate two questions: Did the construction of a positivist ethos in the second half of the 19th-century favor the discovery of Chagas disease? Were Carlos Chagas' academic background and professional environment decisive for this discovery of Chagas' disease?
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... Diretriz da SBC sobre Diagnóstico e Tratamento de Pacientes com Cardiomiopatia da Doença de Chagas -2023 internacional, um dos principais legados de Carlos Chagas para a ciência e para a medicina brasileira". 26 Nesse sentido e quando se revisitam e elaboram diretrizes, torna-se plenamente justificável reconhecer a excepcional contribuição dos médicos e cientistas eméritos que nos deixaram justo quando se publicava a de 2011, e agora, quando finalizamos a de 2022. Entre tantos outros, cujos nomes aqui omitimos por razão de espaço, queremos reverenciar a memória ilustre dos Professores Joaquim Romeu Cançado 1913-2011 (Belo Horizonte), Aluízio Rosa Prata 1920-2011 (Uberaba), desaparecidos há já uma década, e de Zilton Araújo Andrade 1924Andrade -2020 (Salvador), José Rodrigues Coura 1927-2021 (Rio de Janeiro) e Anis Rassi 1929Rassi -2021 (Goiânia), que mais recentemente nos legaram a continuidade de seus trabalhos com a DC. ...
... Diretriz da SBC sobre Diagnóstico e Tratamento de Pacientes com Cardiomiopatia da Doença de Chagas -2023 internacional, um dos principais legados de Carlos Chagas para a ciência e para a medicina brasileira". 26 Nesse sentido e quando se revisitam e elaboram diretrizes, torna-se plenamente justificável reconhecer a excepcional contribuição dos médicos e cientistas eméritos que nos deixaram justo quando se publicava a de 2011, e agora, quando finalizamos a de 2022. Entre tantos outros, cujos nomes aqui omitimos por razão de espaço, queremos reverenciar a memória ilustre dos Professores Joaquim Romeu Cançado 1913-2011 (Belo Horizonte), Aluízio Rosa Prata 1920-2011 (Uberaba), desaparecidos há já uma década, e de Zilton Araújo Andrade 1924Andrade -2020 (Salvador), José Rodrigues Coura 1927-2021 (Rio de Janeiro) e Anis Rassi 1929Rassi -2021 (Goiânia), que mais recentemente nos legaram a continuidade de seus trabalhos com a DC. ...
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