History of Latin American Dermatology

Historical outline of Dermatology in Cubawas founded; the first issue was published a year later. Also in 1943, with Dr. FernandoTrespalacios being the head of the St. Lazarus of Rincón Hospital, there began the treatmentof leprosy with sulfa (which had appeared in the year 1941), in replacement ofchalmugra oil.On February 24, 1944, the St. Louis of Jagua National Hospital was inaugurated,within the Alto Songo municipal boundaries in Oriente province, devoted to the treatmentof leprosy patients; its first director was Dr. Miguel A. González Prendes. On April1 and 2, in Santa Clara, the First Cuban Conference on Leprology was held, during whichDr. Enrique Ríos León, a noted dermatology of that city, opened a PLESC dispensary.In 1946, at the Dermatology Service of the Calixto García Hospital, Dr. VictorianoBermúdez, for the first time in Cuba, employed treatment with BAL — a specific antidotefor poisoning with heavy metals like arsenic and mercury that were employed for thetreatment of syphilis 17 .In 1947 professors Pardo Castelló, Francisco Tiant and Raúl Piñeiro maintained in diversepublications that lesions of peripheral nerve trunks in leprosy were a constant inany clinical form of the disease, a statement accepted by the majority of authors 18 .The Fifth International Congress on Leprosy took place in Havana in 1948, on April 3through 11, organized by the Cuban Society of Dermatology in collaboration with the InternationalLeprosy Association. Previously, by Presidential Decree 4,500 of December18, 1947, the Cuban Government had created the National Organizing Commission forthe Fifth Congress, appointing Drs. Alberto Oteiza and Ismael Ferrer as President andSecretary, respectively 18 . The International Leprosy Association was represented by itsPresident H. W. Wade and by Dr. Ernest Muir, Vice-president of the Congress 13 . At thismeeting, the Pan-American Classification was adopted as International classification,and the inclusion of the “Non-Characteristic” (called “Undetermined”) group, proposedby Prof. Latapí, was approved. This classification was first employed in the Americas andafterwards at a worldwide level 19 .The holding of this important Congress was celebrated by the issuance of a commemorativestamp by the Government of Cuba, which was put into circulation on April 9, 1948.At the conclusion of the congress’ activities, on April 11, the Ibero-Latin Americandermatologists present, gathered under the presidency of Dr. Pastor Fariñas and withDrs. Guillermo González Pérez and Ovidio de la Osa as secretaries, decided to form anorganization with the aim of bringing together the specialists from Spanish-speaking andPortuguese-speaking countries. Thus was born the Ibero-Latin American DermatologyAssociation (CILAD), whose main goal was to promote scientific exchanges among thedermatologists of both continents.At the founding ceremony, the bylaws were adopted and the first board was chosen,formed by Dr. José Aguiar Pupo of Brazil in the post of president, and three vice-presidents:Drs. Braulio Sáenz Ricard of Cuba, José Gay Prieto of Spain and Marcial Quirogaof Argentina. Dr. Humberto Cerruti of Brazil was appointed secretary. The first congresswas held in Rio de Janeiro in the year 1950 20 .On May 4, 1951, at the Auditorium of the Service at the Mercies Hospital, theCuban Society of Leprology was founded, bringing together dermatologistsmainly devoted to treating leprosy patients.A group of dermatologists devoted to the vast field of Cosmetology gatheredin Havana in May 1954, under the presidency of Prof. Carlos Castanedo, and createdthe Cuban Society of Cosmetology (Figure 6).The Second National Conference of Leprology, sponsored by the Cuban Societyof Leprology, was held in Havana on March 26 and 27, 1955, under the presidencyof Dr. Pastor Fariñas. A detailed presentation of the scope of the SouthAmerican Classification of Leprosy, adopted at the Fifth International Congress,was given at this forum.Figure 6. CarlosCastanedo Pardo(1913-1998)155