History of Latin American Dermatology

M. MADERO, F. MADERO, G. MONTENEGRO, M. COELLO, C. ARIASoccurred, in the face of the human impotence to control them — by physicians, medicinemen, herbal doctors and sorcerers — the religious-minded town of Cuenca saw in thema divine punishment for supposedly licentious habits and invoked the help of Divine Providencethrough intercessors to “placate the anger of God,” ask for forgiveness for theirsins and obtain his Divine Mercy 11 .In 1749, Dr. Pedro Pazmiño, a doctor born in Quito, in the process of beatification ofMarianne of Jesus (an Ecuadorian saint), declared that he had treated cases of “venereallues” (with sweet mercury pills to the point of salivation), of blennorrhagia, of goiter, etc.,some of which were cured with relics (Museo Histórico magazine, organ of the HistoryMuseum of the city of Quito, No. 2, July 11, 1949). In 1750, the Bethlehemites arrived atthe Guayaquil Hospital 2 .In 1765, an epidemic of venereal ailments occured in Guayaquil “because foreigntroops arrived in the city, with many people: men and low-life women, attacked by thevenereal ailment…,” according to the Guayaquil Jesuit Juan Arteta 5 . In 1777, EugenioEspejo graduated as a physician (at twenty years of age) 5 ; he received from the Presidentof St. Thomas Aquinas University, Father Nicolás García, the Doctor in Medicine degree,and upon placing on him the ring that symbolizes the goal attained, the Deanpronounced the following ceremonial words: “This is the symbol of your marriage withwisdom, which from now on will be your dearest wife” 26 . Espejo, a public librarian, furtheredhis studies and acquired a very vast medical and philosophical erudition 5 . In1778, a census was conducted in the Cuenca territory that gave a total of 11,824 inhabitantsand indicated that at the Cuenca Hospital, of which the Prefect was Brother Matíasde los Dolores (a Bethlehemite), there were six hospitalized patients, six servants and achaplain. In 1779, the only surgeon in Cuenca, Fray Santiago de las Ánimas, carried outan examination of the body of Juan Mariano Zabala, shot to death by the Governor.In 1782, the city of Cuenca was once again affected by a serious plague (measles,smallpox and typhus), due to an “excessive lack of rainfall.” In order to obtain aid fromheaven in the face of such a calamity, the Holy Christ of Girón was ordered brought tothe city 11 (Figure 14).In 1785, a measles and scurvy epidemic killed 8,000 people; Dr. Eugenio Espejo —who revealed himself as a hygienist and a precursor of microbiology — published Reflectionson Smallpox and the Hygiene of Quito. The Spanish crown recommended theisolation of smallpox cases 2 .In 1786, the founding of the St. Lazarus Hospital for lepers, annexed to the hospice,took place in Quito. In 1803, the Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition was proclaimedin all the Spanish colonies; it left La Coruña on November 3, with twenty-two vaccinatedchildren on the “María Pita” corvette, to disseminate immunization.Lastly, in this quick but riveting review of the events that have marked our history,and in particular that of medicine, we must remember that on August 10, 1809, whenthe president of the Royal Audience was Manuel Urríes, Count Ruiz of Castilla, Ecuadorianpatriots, influenced by the libertarian ideas of that great precursor, Eugenio deSanta Cruz y Espejo, gathered in the house of Manuela de Cañizares and headed by AntonioAnte, Pío Montúfar, Quiroga, Ascázubi and Juan de Salinas, among others, proclaimedthe First Shout of Independence in the Americas 12, 13 , obtaining themuch-desired freedom.Dermatology during the RepublicDermatology had more representation in the republican era, and its development wasin tandem with that of hospital creation and treatment 1, 2, 5 .When Cuenca was founded in 1557, spaces were set aside for the church, for the mainsquare and for hospitals; but the construction of the latter was delayed 1 . Before the official206