History of Latin American Dermatology

Dermatology and dermatologists in BrazilBruno ChavesIn 1887, Dr. Bruno Chaves, graduated in Bahia, published a doctoral thesis on “Mercuryand its compounds,” indicating it for the treatment of syphilis. This work was publishedin the Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter, and in the Annales deDermatologie et de Syphilographie. As consequence of these studies, he was appointedforeign member of the Societé Française de Dermatologie et de Syphilographie, whichwould serve as a model for the founding of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology.It is not surprising that Bruno Chaves, at that time already settled in Pelotas, RioGrande do Sul, would become one of the five Brazilian dermatologists to be invited toparticipate in the First World Congress of Dermatology and Syphilography, held in 1889in Paris, at the Saint-Louis Hospital.The first serviceGradually, the country improved its medicine thanks to the inclusion of two universitiesand to the isolated work of physicians. This process was accelerated between 1882and 1884 by the Reforms of Leôncio de Carvalho and the Viscount of Sabóia Reforms,which modernized education, adapting it to the latest trends dictated by Europe.The introduction of a course that reflected the growing importance acquired by skindiseases in the country and in the rest of the world stood out in the new syllabus. TheCutaneous and Syphilitic Diseases Clinical course was created; it was developed in Bahiaby Alexandre Evangelista de Castro Cerqueira and in Rio de Janeiro by João PizarroGabizo.In Rio de Janeiro, the course was created in 1883, a year after the founding of thefirst great Clinical Service for Skin Diseases in Brazil, at Rio de Janeiro’s General Polyclinic.Its director and initiator, Antônio Pereira da Silva Araújo, from the Bahia TropicalSchool, and at that time settled in the capital of the country, was the first to describe adermatological disease, and also to participate in pioneering surgery in its specializedfield in the country.“Silva Araújo was the first unchaired professor of Dermatology in Brazil, offering inhis Dermatology and Syphilography Service a teaching imbued with pastoral ideas” 2 .According to Joaquim Mota, “since 1875, Dr. José Antônio Pereira da Silva Araújo hadbeen offering interesting lectures at the celebrated Conferences of Glory, where he spokewith mastery on topics of parasitology and microbiology. Creating the skin diseases serviceof the Polyclinic, Silva Araújo started giving classes on the specialized field there,successfully promoting heavily-attended courses” 2 .Silva Araújo was a brilliant doctor, researcher and author of important works, whichhe would publish in subsequent years in the Atlas of skin diseases, with colorful drawingsand texts in French (1883), as well as conferences on Sanitary Regulations on Prostitution(1883) and Public Prophylaxis of Syphilis (1891).The Academy of Medicine had already turned fifty-three years old when, in 1882, theDermatology Chair was set up, becoming the first Dermatology Service in the country. Inthat same year, as Rubem David Azulay reports, Silva Araújo was appointed the 127 thstanding member of the entity. “In this way, the new specialized field that emerged in thecountry became part of the Academy. His intense activity would make him occupy theFirst Secretariat in 1889, the Presidency in 1897, and, later, the post of Lifetime President.He was also asked to create the National Academy of Medicine Museum” 2 .In the mid-twentieth century, the National Academy of Medicine would have two otherpresidents from this field: Rubem David Azulay and Jarbas Porto, who also headed theBrazilian Society of Dermatology.71