Remarkable facts about the history of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine

Abstract

The Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine (BSTM) was established in the 1960s in an effort to bring together numerous academic members, professors and researchers from different universities and faculties throughout the country as a counterpoint to the Brazilian Society of Hygiene (Sociedade Brasileira de Higiene SBH). In those days, the SBH experienced a marked reduction in activity that continued until it ceased to exist. It must be remembered that the SBH, which was established in the 1920s, was very important and was the leader in the control of parasitic endemic diseases through its various programs and projects. In the beginning, the members of the SBH were mostly health workers but also included researchers and professors. Carlos Chagas was one of the many active and important presidents that belonged to this society. Over the decades, there was a separation in Brazil between the activities and claims of the so-called sanitarians, who participated in control services, and the activities of researchers and university professors. The BSTM was very important in re-founding the Brazilian Society of Parasitology (Sociedade Brasileira de Parasitologia SBP), which was originally founded in 1965. Dr. Wladimir Lobato Paraense was its fi rst president and was followed by Professor Amilcar Vianna Martins. With Martins’ forfeiture and mandatory retirement in 1969 due to the infamous Institutional Act no 5, produced by the military dictatorship that assumed control of the country in 1964, the Society ceased to function. However, it was re-established in 1975 under the leadership of Professor Rubens Campos from the State of Sao Paulo. For 10 years, the Society held combined annual meetings with the BSTM, from which it received all of its necessary support and funding. It is valuable to note that expert groups were created in the BSTM, sometimes formally or informally. These groups were extremely important because they could ensure that ineffective drugs and vaccines for the treatment of Chagas disease were not offered for sale. Similarly, glucosamine