Urban Crisis and Epidemic Typhus in Madrid at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century.

The article focuses on the two waves of epidemic typhus (louse-borne typhus) that struck Madrid in the first decade of the twentieth century, highlighting their origins, social impact, and the city’s inadequate public health response. These epidemics were closely linked to poverty, overcrowding, and poor sanitation in working-class neighborhoods and poorhouses, which served as epicenters for the outbreaks. Madrid’s rapid population growth and urban expansion outpaced the development of effective housing, labor market stability, and healthcare infrastructure, including the absence of designated epidemic hospitals. The municipal authorities’ delayed recognition of the epidemics and insufficient preventive measures reflected broader shortcomings in urban policy and public health systems in Spain at the time. The spatial distribution of typhus mortality revealed clear socio-economic and geographic disparities, underscoring the connection between urban planning failures and the spread of infectious disease.