The Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), in the Bairro district of Rio de Janeiro, was originally named Instituto Soroterápico Federal when it was first created in 1900. Its original objective was to produce serums and vaccines for the bubonic plague that was threatening Rio. From 1903, under the direction of Oswaldo Cruz, the Institute's aims turned towards the direction of scientific research and, from 1906, already had a subsidiary in Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais. In March 1908, the name change occurred, in honour of its director and his campaigns to combat yellow fever and the bubonic plague.

The work of the Institute continued to expand, producing immunising medication for both human and veterinary use, some of which were developed from investigations carried out by the organisation's own researchers. In the first decades of the twentieth century, scientists embarked on scientific expeditions into the interior of Brazil, to begin controlling diseases there, some of which were hardly known.

In 1909, Carlos Chagas discovered the biological cycle of the disease that now bears his name; this was one of the most important discoveries made at the Institute. In 1912, the Institute began to construct a hospital that was inaugurated as the Hospital Oswaldo Cruz in 1918. This hospital received patients from places most affected by disease in the interior of the country, who were treated and studied.

In 1919, other research places were established. A regional hospital and a rural laboratory were built in Lassance, Minas Gerais, as well as the subsidiary of São Luís do Maranhão. Seven years later, in 1926, a new regulation reorganised the structure of IOC and six scientific sections were defined: Bacteriologia e Imunidade (Bacteriology and Immunology); Zoologia Médica (Medical Zoology); Micologia e Fitopatologia (Micology and Fitopathology); Anatomia Patológica (Pathological Anatomy); Hospitais (Hospitals); and Química Aplicada (Applied Chemistry). A year later, the section of Physiology was added.

In 1930, the Institute was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministério da Educação e Saúde Púbica (Ministry of Education and Public Health). By 1936, the subsidiaries of both Maranhão and Belo Horizonte were no longer linked to the Institute, due to government cuts in spending.

In 1937, IOC became subordinated to the Departamento Nacional de Saúde - DNS (National Health Department), which consolidated the Institute's concentration on human health, and in 1942 the following specialist divisions were created: Microbiologia e Imunologia (Microbiology and Immunology); Vírus (Viruses); Zoologia Médica (Medical Zoology); Fisiologia (Physiology); Química e Farmacologia (Chemistry and Pharmacology); Patologia (Pathology); Higiene (Hygiene); Estudos de Endemias (Endemic Studies).

The Institute was incorporated into the Universidade do Brasil in 1946 but this link only lasted until the following year, when it was placed under the Ministério da Educação e Saúde (Ministry of Education and Health). Annual reports from this time show an increase in the organisation's activities relating to the production of serums and vaccines. From this time, the debates of research versus production and pure science versus applied science grew, putting at risk the original aims of Oswaldo Cruz, namely, to carry out research, production and training in the same organisation.

In 1953, the Ministério da Saúde (Ministry of Health) was created and IOC was placed under its jurisdiction. A new regime was created for the Institute in 1962, which reaffirmed the structural model that incorporated research, prodution and teaching in the same institution. The existing divisions were kept, and a new one was added: Ensino e Documentação.

The Fundação Recursos Humanos (Human Resources Foundation) was transformed into the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz in May 1970, and, soon after, also incorporated Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (in 1970), Instituto Nacional de Endemias Rurais - INERu; Serviço de Produtos Profiláticos; Instituto Fernandes Figueira (IFF); Instituto Evandro Chagas; Instituto de Leprologia, do Serviço Nacional de Lepra (Institute of Leprology, of the National Leprosy Service); and Instituto Presidente Castelo Branco. This move meant that the Institute no longer had a specific responsibility for the areas of production and teaching, although the heads of each department continued to promote courses specific to their area. The activities of teaching and production shifted to the Instituto Castelo Branco (now called Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública - Ensp) and the Instituto de Produção de Medicamentos. This meant that the integrated model, originally formulated by Oswaldo Cruz, was eventually carried out by Fiocruz as an organisation (albeit composed of many parts).

The Instituto de Leprologia, although now a part of Fiocruz, kept its headquarters in the São Christóvão district of Rio de Janeiro, and maintained the same basic track in the development of its activites. Previously to its integration into Fiocruz, it had belonged to the Serviço Nacional de Lepra, both created in 1946, and was subsequently subordinate to the Departamento Nacional de Saúde (DNS). Its aim was to be a nucleus of study and research, subsidising the public actions concerning control and treatment of leprosy, filling the gap created by the tightening of the activities of the International Centre of Leprosy that, with the support of the League of Nations, operated within IOC between 1934 and 1939. From 1947, research and study was begun in the annexes of Hospital Frei Antônio in the district of São Christóvão, Rio de Janeiro. In 1952, the building was inaugurated that would serve as the headquarters for the Instituto de Leprologia until 1976.

It was not until 1955 that the structure of the Instituto de Leprologia was established, which lasted until 1969. It was divided into the following subdivisions: Anatomia Patológica (Pathological Anatomy); Bacteriologia e Imunologia (Bacteriology and Immunology); Bioquímica e Farmacologia (Biochemistry and Pharmacology); and Clínica e Therapêutica (Clinical and Therapeutic). With the agreement of the religious order, Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento da Candelária, Hospital Frei Antônio operated as a hospital clinic. During this period, the research of the Instituto de Leprologia worked around the following themes, among others: experimental leprosy; immunology of leprosy; diagnostics and classification, experimentation of new drugs and medical associations; the role of enzymes in the predisposition and in the development of the disease; pathogenics and therapeutics in the leprotic reaction; and visceral aspects of leprosy. The Institute also prepared and distributed lepromin and other reagents.

After the amalgamation with Fiocruz, the structure of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz included the following departments: Microbiologia e Imunologia (Microbiology and Immunology); Zoologia Médica (Medical Zoology); Patologia e Doenças Tropicais (Pathology and Tropical Diseases); Química e Terapêutica Experimental (Chemistry and Experimental Therapeutics); Tecnologia (Technology). It also counted on the Coordenação dos Órgãos Autônomos, that supervised the activities of the Institutes of Rural Endemics, Leprology, Fernando Figueira and Evandro Chagas, that were also incorporated into the structure of Fiocruz.

This structure continued until the mid-1970s, when, in April 1976, the Plano de Reorientação Programática da Fiocruz was formulated. This plan stipulated that the research activities, particularly those of IOC, would be arranged around specific programmes to be defined according to the following prioritised lines of action: Chagas' disease, bilharzia, leprosy, experimental virology, entero-bacterias and clinical research. During this process of reorganisation, the Instituto de Leprologia was also incorporated into the structure of IOC.

This organisational design lasted until April 1980, when it was once again re-departmentalised, and the structure decided on then has lasted until today, with a few additional departments added. The work of the old Instituto de Leprologia was passed on to the Setor de Leprologia (Leprology Section/Sector), then a subdivision of the Departamento de Medicina Tropical. The present name for the department is Laboratório de Hanseníase. Operating within the campus at Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, the laboratory’s activities include human resource and research training, especially concerning immunopathology, clinico-epidemiological studies and early diagnosis of leprosy.

Information from Guia do Acervo da Casa de Oswaldo Cruz. COC/Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, 1995. pp5, 15-19.

Entry created January 2016