History of Latin American Dermatology

History of Dermatology among Argentine indigenous culturesAs a general feature the men, instead of wearing clothing, painted their bodies.A) TOBAGuaycurúThe 2. traditional native medicine of the Toba offers a many-faceted pharmacopoeia appliedto injuries, broken bones, sprains, ulcerations, bites and parasitosis. Diverse substancesbelonging to the two kingdoms of nature enrich the vast pharmacological array ofthese primitive populations, in which rituals, chanting, the monotony of the drums, tobaccosmoke, incantations and invocations to supernatural agents, dramatized by the witch-doctor,created the appropriate therapeutic context for the social structures of the community.B) MOCOBÍ OR MOCOVÍAccording to one chronicler, “they cured injuries simply by tying them up, as they alsodid with broken bones. Their flesh was so healthy it quickly grew together and swelledlittle. They have even told of an Indian, scratched by a tiger, whose claws are poisonous,healing from this wound without generating any swelling.”Tattoos, adornmentLike their territorial neighbors, the Abipone devoted themselves to the art of tattooing.In the case of young girls, engravings were made on their chest. According to the descriptionof Father Manuel Canelas, this operation was carried out with certain thorns smearedwith diverse colors, particularly black and blue. “The pain and swelling which they experienced,locked up, for around a month, suffering to the point of looking monstrous, wasin order to appear, in their eyes alone, beautiful.” Other spots preferentially chosen werethe lacrimal areas, the outside angles of the eyes and the space between the eyebrows.MedicineAlthough children, owing to the fact that they went around naked, were accustomedto the local dangers, they could not avoid insect bites, particularly by mosquitoes, eventhough their elders ingeniously strove to diminish them. To this end they resorted to rheaor fish fat, which, mixed with resins, was rubbed over the entire surface of the body.They were also tortured by the pique (“itch”), vulgar name given in Argentina andParaguay to the nigua (sarcopsylla penetrans) (chigger). This agent is a flea of tropicaland subtropical America that attacks man, penetrating beneath the epidermis of the feet,particularly the nails. Their minute eggs are yellowish in color, do not emerge into theopen, and develop at subtegumentary levels. They form tiny abscesses, which on occasionrequire surgical draining. This painful ailment, accompanied by pruritus and other dermatoses,was treated with ointments employing, as a vehicle, fat and Cantharin powder.Skin mycosis, syphilis, dermatological reactions of probably allergic origin and leishmaniasiswere treated with phosphorilated fat, like yacaré (local alligator) musk.In the historical testimony corresponding to diverse periods of Mocoví nomadism andsedentarism, the first descriptions agree in stating that because of natural selection,there were few diseases other than epidemic ones. When the latter pathologies spread,the Indians fled. No greater calamity had been known since the mother or father wouldleave, leaving the affected children in utter defenselessness. They only left a jar of water,roast meat and wild fruit at the head of the bed.In the year 1745, a ravaging epidemic hit 30 settlements in Paraguay and surroundings,killing 72,000 Indians of all ages. In 1760, at the San Javier Indian reservation, inthe province of Santa Fe, there was an epidemic which slaughtered 800 Indians.As regards medications – Edward Jenner’s smallpox inoculation would be used as aprophylactic measure as of 1796 – the pharmacological resources of that era consistedin providing barley or linseed water, water sweetened with watermelon or melon seedsas a refreshing drink, and ground calabash.23