Biografia De Jacinto Convit

Biography of Jacinto Convit

Venezuelan doctor whose work has marked an important milestone in epidemiological studies, to develop a vaccine to cure one of the most terrible diseases in the history of humanity, leprosy. This remarkable contribution to medical science, earned in 1988 to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. His parents were Francisco Convit and Martí (Catalan immigrant) and Flora Garcia Marrero, Venezuela. Who besides Jacinto, had four more children, Michelangelo, Reinaldo, René and Rafael. Arguably Convit Garcia family has long been a 'wealthy', home to strange circumstances that precipitated an economic crisis that coincided with the years when Jacinto was to start college family. His secondary education was made in high school Andrés Bello (Caracas) under the direction of two great masters: Rómulo Gallegos and Pedro Arnal. In 1937 he met the man who would be his wife, Rafaela Martota (nurse), contracting marriage with her on 1 February 1947, being the father of four children: Francisco (1948), Oscar (1949), Antonio and Rafael (1952, who They are twins.

The September 19, 1932 he entered the medical school of the Central University of Venezuela. In September 1937 he received the title of Bachelor of Philosophy, opting immediately for the title of Doctor in Medical Sciences, presenting the thesis "Spinal Fractures" in 1938. Finally, Convit graduated Doctor of Medical Sciences on September 27, 1938. The June 25, 1940 was entered into the Book of Registration of Resident Doctors in the Department Libertador Federal District as specializing in internal medicine-skin diseases. The sanitary-epidemiological performance Convit begins in 1937 when a medical student is invited by Martin Vegas (Professor of Dermatology at the Medical School) and Carlos Gil Yepez to attend the leper colony of Cabo Blanco (Department Vargas, Federal District) . Immediately after graduation, he was appointed resident physician of the leprosarium. Between 1940 and 1943, in addition to his position at the leprosarium, pro bono work as director of the Red Cross (sectional La Guaira), allowing you to have a wider experience of the medical clinic. During this same period, he also attended the consultation of skin diseases of the Central Dispensary, belonging to the school of Venereology, located in Conde Piñango (Caracas). In short, since 1937 is impossible to separate the life of Jacinto Convit fight against leprosy in Venezuela. Until 1942 this fight consisted only of the isolation and treatment of patients in "leprosaria" dependent on the Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Health and Social Assistance (MSAS). In 1945, Convit is sent by the Ministry of Health to Brazil to observe the leprosy services in the country where leprosy is still a major health problem. There he found 35,000 leprosy patients, hospitalized in large sanatoriums, which had multiple problems. On his return, he was appointed medical director of the national leprosy, a post he held until 1946. Also, from January to July 1946, Convit is appointed medical director of the National Antileprosy Services since July 1946 and Chief Physician, Division of Leprosy; correspondiéndole therefore organize the national network of leprosy.

In April 1961, Convit received the Order of the Liberator in the rank of Commander in August and Gaspar Vianna Cultural Medal, granted by the Ministry of Health of Brazil. Notably, during these years, Convit invested much effort in the search for an experimental model for the cure of leprosy. This inoculated mammals, reptiles and even fish under different conditions. In 1989 Convit announced it had found that armadillos brought from the area near the Guri Dam (State of Bolívar) were highly susceptible to the bacillus of leprosy (M. leprae), causing the spread of disease; unlike other regions armadillos. From the study with these animals, Convit and his team of researchers

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