OBJECTIVE:

to review the challenges and procedures used in Aedes aegypti control and the characteristics of the epidemics in the successful campaign, led by Clementino Fraga, for yellow fever control in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1928 and 1929, before the vaccine (1937) and DDT (1947).

METHODS:

a literature review was conducted by searching official reports, scientific journals and historic textbooks on this subject.

RESULTS:

the A. aegypti control was achieved through the hard and organized work of breeding site police teams, priority in eliminating breeding sites through environmental management measures and a qualified training program for the teams.

CONCLUSION:

the reports demonstrate a set of simple but laborious procedures that could effectively control mosquitoes in urban environment through the work of the teams, who were committed to environmental management measures, aiming at eliminating breeding sites and were capable of handling social and environmental obstacles.

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