Role of dermatologists in leprosy elimination and post-elimination era: the Brazilian contribution

Dermatologists in Brazil have always been involved in care of leprosy patients, and have been alternating with public health physicians in the management of control policies. It is worth mentioning that Fernando Terra, founder of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology (BSD) in 1912, established the position of intern dermatologist at the Hospital dos Lizaros, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1913 (Souza-Araújo, 1952; Oliveira, 1991). In 1920, the dermatologist Eduardo Rabello formulated the first national public policy on the control of leprosy in the country, which was called ‘Inspection of Prophylaxis of Leprosy and Venereal Diseases’. His son was an enthusiast of dermatological research and his main legacy was the polarity concept of leprosy (Rabelo, 1937). However, from 1930 to 1985, the public health physicians were in charge of the political guidelines that represented the period of establishing the vertical programmatic structure, with compulsory isolation of patients (1933-1962). Moreover, the federal states coordinated the control actions, based on the leprosy prophylaxis campaign. The dermatologists resumed the conduction of the control process in 1986, when multi-drug therapy (MDT) was implemented in the country, and in 1991, when decentralization of public healthcare services to the municipal level took place. In 2003 again, the dermatologists were no longer in control of the national policy. However, active dermatologists have acted in Brazilian references on diagnosis and treatment of Hansen’s disease, at municipal, state and national levels. It is true that dermatologists have been getting away from leprosy control actions. And one could ask: who will replace this specialist? In the ‘post-elimination’ era, when the public primary healthcare technicians no longer consider leprosy of much significance, the knowledge of the expert in this disease and its differential diagnoses will be crucial.