History of Latin American Dermatology

MARTHA MINIÑO, RAFAEL ISA ISAFigure 10. Group ofparticipants in theFirst Congress ofSyphilis andLeprosy that washeld at the IDD(1970)Figure 11.Margarita Rosadode Quiñones in theold laboratory ofthe IDD, whilepreparing a test forthe diagnosis ofleishmaniasiscases of other pathologies such as deep mycosis, leishmaniasis, cancer, and other skinailments of social and medical interest 25 .This program has remained as one of the most successful health models with whichthe Dominican Republic reckons. Drs. Juan Antonio Bodden, and Zino Castellazzi, fromVenezuela, and Drs. Dennis Martínez — with an outstanding participation as head of theprogram over many years — and Miriam Hilario have contributed to it, alongside the administrationof the IDD.In Santiago, Drs. Rafael Díaz and José Canaán have set the standards for cutaneousmedicine, whereas Román Brache stands out in San Francisco de Macorís.Dermatology as of the 1970sOn August 30 and 31 and September 1, 1970, the first nationalcongress was held, which had Leprosy and Syphilis as central topics. Todate, the Dermatological and Skin Surgery Institute (IDCP) has held ninedermatological meetings; the SDD has carried out eleven, which alternateevery two years 26 (Figure 10).Superficial and deep mycoses were first studied by Pimentel Imbert,who had a private practice, and then by Rafael Coiscou and Rafael Isaand the bio-analysts Ana Cecilia Cruz and Bertina Gil at the IDD, whocontrolled thousands of cases of mycoses of all types 23, 27 .At the Dermatological Institute, the major mycoses that affect the Dominicanpeople have been studied, bacterial and viral infections of theskin; cutaneous tuberculosis, chronic bullous diseaes, collagenosis anddiverse parasitoses. Among the latter, 40 cases of leishmaniasis havebeen discovered in the 1974-1998 period, all of them of the anergic type,caused by a parasite of the Mexican L group; they were studied in depthby the Margarita Quiñones (Figure 11), who in 1978 introduced thetechniques of immune-fluorescence into the country for the diagnosis oftoxoplasmosis, syphilis, and collagen-related pathologies 28 .The IDD (presently IDCP) (Figure 12) has dermatological units in SanPedro de Macorís, for the east region, Santiago for the Cibao or centralregion of the country, Puerto Plata for the northern region, San Cristóbalfor the southern region, Barahona for the southwestern region, and LaRomana and Higuey in the east 29 .In 1975, the specialized services in Cosmetics, Cryosurgery, Pediatric Dermatology,Occupational Dermatoses and Internal Medicine were created. The latter was initiatedby Dr. Alfredo Staffeld; later the department was divided in two: Internal Medicine appliedto Dermatology, headed to the present day by Juan Pablo Guzmán, and cardiologynephrology,currently under the leadership of Francisco Bonnet 30 .In 1984, the IDD opened the Sexually-Transmitted Diseases Center (CETS in Spanish),expanding the dermatological working field, under the leadership of Claudio Vólquez;soon thereafter, the STD departments began to operate at the Santiago and Puerto Plataunits. During the 1984-1998 period, the main STDs that affected the Dominican peoplewere studied. Currently, the center is carrying out preliminary studies for a vaccineagainst HIV 31 .■ Development of specialized of specialized subfields in Dermatology subfields in DermatologyIn 1992, the residency in Dermatological Surgery at the IDD was formally launched.The first dermatological surgeons in our country — Luisa González and Emma Guzmán382