IlhadoPinheiro

In the 1920s and 1930s, public health policies in Brazil were structured with the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz as one of their pillars. The rest of Brazil's view of the ‘sertão’, which in general terms encompassed the entire interior of the country, was that these were lands full of sick people, plagued by worms and tropical diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and other zoonoses.

Image description: This is an old photograph of an outdoor area with a lake in the center. On the left, there are trees, including tall palm trees, and people walking near them. In the background, there is a body of water that appears to be a river or lake, along with some distant buildings. On the right, there are more trees and a small island in the middle of the lake. The sky is clear, and the image has a sepia tone, suggesting it is old.

Since the days when it was an Institute, the current Fundação Oswaldo Cruz made use of the natural landscape of the territory on the shores of Praia de Inhaúma for the breeding of animals for scientific research purposes. In the seaside stables, serum was produced from horse breeding. Next to the Castle (as the Pavilhão Mourisco is known), aquariums made it possible to understand the dynamics of disease vectors, such as snails. And monkeys served as test subjects for vaccines, medicines, and research on illnesses.

Carlos Chagas (1871-1934), one of the most important scientists in the Institute's history, became a reference in disease research. It was he who revealed the dynamics of one of the illnesses that plagued the inhabitants of the countryside with intense fever, headache, and weakness – causing the death of many of those infected. Transmitted by the "barbeiro" (kissing bug), when this insect is contaminated by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (named in honor of Oswaldo Cruz), this disease became known as Chagas Disease.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of an isolated house surrounded by tropical vegetation. On the left side, there are several tall, dense palm trees, while on the right stands the white house with a sloped roof. The house has a square window on the front and a small circular opening on the roof. In the background, the sky is clear and cloudless.

In 1932, Carlos Chagas brought 100 individuals of the Rhesus monkey species from India to carry out research on vaccines and remedies against yellow fever. An isolated location was needed, where the animals could be kept and observed in freedom. The Ilha do Pinheiro, a territory that belonged to the Federal Government, had its possession acquired by the Oswaldo Cruz Institute and was the site chosen for conducting these biomedical experiments.

After successive landfills, Ilha do Pinheiro became part of the territory of Maré. After the island territory was annexed to the mainland, the primate colony was deactivated at the site. The animals were transferred to the Fiocruz campus.

Image description: The image is a black-and-white photograph featuring several photos of monkeys in different poses and contexts. The spatial layout is organized in columns and rows, with larger images at the top and smaller ones at the bottom. In the upper left, there is a large photo of a group of monkeys gathered in a vegetated area. Beside it, there is a smaller photo showing a person walking near a river. Below, there are two smaller photos of monkeys in different natural settings. In the center, there is a circle containing explanatory text about the monkeys. On the right, there are two more smaller photos of monkeys in different scenes.