History of Latin American Dermatology

JULIO CORREAwiped out a large part of the population, plunging survivors into despair and misery asa consequence of bullets, hunger, and the countless diseases on the battlefield.During the reconstruction of the fatherland, after those ghastly five years, the firstevents took place that mark the beginning of the history of Dermatology in Paraguay. Thenumerous documents that we have consulted on that period constitute an interestingconglomerate of the most noteworthy information about skin diseases in our country, themechanisms to combat them, and their results, put forward by outstanding members ofthese communities.The goal of this introduction is to awaken interest among newcomers, so that theircontribution can enrich the history of Dermatology in Paraguay even further. My gratitudeand acknowledgement go to those who collaborated with this modest work.■ The population of the Americas. of the Americas. The American man The American manNo hominid fossils had been found in America; the Amerindian did not originate inthe American continent, but arrived from Asia in the late Paleolithic and early Neolithic.This arrival in America took place in relative recent times, later than in Europe, not morethan 30,000 years ago (between 35 and 40,000 according to Bates), according to archeologicalfindings and research projects.The inhabitants came from Asia by land, in successive migrations, through theBehring Strait. They were Mongoloid type peoples, still not very differentiated (withoutvery marked traits of the Mongolian and East Asian families), dolichocephalous, originatingfrom primitive Paleo-Asian tribes of the north of Asia 1 .There are also other theories from various authors, quoted by González Torres, to explainthe presence of the American man in the continent. Paul Rivet, from the Museumof Man and the Museum of Natural History in Paris, points out four migratory currents:1. Mongoloid (the main theory): they arrived from Asia through the Behring Strait.2. They arrived in boats from Polynesia, Melanesia, Oceania, islands in the Pacific,passing through Easter Island; certain doubts arise considering such a major journeythirty thousand years ago.3. They crossed over parts of the Pacific farther up north, reaching different latitudesof the American coast.4. Migration of the Australian man through Antarctica to arrive in the southern tip ofAmerica; ancestors of Patagonians and Fueguians, with common cultural elements withAustralians.There are also other theories, some in the realm of fantasy. The main sources of prehistoricdata in America are the mounds and sambaquíes, or shell mounds, and remainsfound in caves and caverns. The oldest human fossils found in our continent, determinedby Carbon 14 dating, are (always according to González Torres):— Santa Rosa Island, California coast, 38,000 years.— From Lewisville, Texas, 37,000 years.— From Sandia Cave, 26,000 years.— From Tule Springs, Nevada, 22,000 years.— From Chile, 10,000 years.— From Folsom (bonfires of the Folsom people) 9,889 years.— From Lagoa Santa, Brazil, 6,000 years.The anthropological characteristics of the people of the upper Paleolithic are: dolichocephalous(elongated head, with an elevated skull case, with thin walls), long and narrowface, medium-size nose, marked superciliary arches, and straight hair. They werecalled Australoids because there are still individuals and people with the same anthropologicalcharacteristics in Australia. Today they are represented by the Algonquians284