San-Blas G
Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Centro de Microbiología y Biología Celular, Caracas, Venezuela.
Med Mycol. 2000;38 Suppl 1:1-8.
The start of Latin America's love story with fungi may be placed in pre-Hispanic times when the use of fungi in both ritual ceremonies and daily life were common to the native civilizations. But the medical mycology discipline in Latin America started at the end of the 19th Century. At that time, scholars such as A. Posadas, R. Seeber, A. Lutz and P. Almeida, discovered agents of fungal diseases, the study of which has influenced the regional research ever since. Heirs to them are the researchers that today thrive in regional Universities and Research Institutes. Two current initiatives improve cooperation among Latin American medical mycologists. First, the periodical organization of International Paracoccidioidomycosis Meetings (seven so far, from 1979 to 1999); second, the creation of the Latin American Association for Mycology in 1991 (three Congresses, from 1993 to 1999). Latin American publications have increased in international specialized journals such as that from our Society (ISHAM) (from 8% in 1967 to 19% in 1999), and the Iberoamerican Journal of Mycology (Revista Iberoamericana de Micologia; > 40% from 1997 to 1999). In addition, Latin American participation at ISHAM International Congresses has risen from 6.9% in 1975 to 21.3% in 1997, and 43.2% at the 14th ISHAM Congress, held for the first time in a Latin American country, Argentina. A significant contribution of women to the scientific establishment of Latin American medical mycology (e.g., 45% of Latin American papers vs. 18% of other regions published in Journal of Medical and Veterinary Mycology in 1987, had women as authors or coauthors) suggests a better academic consideration of Latin American women against their counterparts in the developed world. Taken together, all these figures reflect the enthusiasm of our Latin American colleagues in the field, despite the difficulties that afflict our region, and affect our work.
拉丁美洲与真菌的渊源可追溯到西班牙殖民前时期，当时本土文明在仪式和日常生活中普遍使用真菌。但拉丁美洲的医学真菌学学科始于19世纪末。那时，像A. 波萨达斯、R. 西伯、A. 卢茨和P. 阿尔梅达等学者发现了真菌病病原体，自那以后，对这些病原体的研究一直影响着该地区的研究。他们的继承者是如今在该地区各大学和研究机构中蓬勃发展的研究人员。当前有两项举措促进了拉丁美洲医学真菌学家之间的合作。其一，定期组织国际副球孢子菌病会议（截至1999年，从1979年起共举办了七届）；其二，1991年成立了拉丁美洲真菌学协会（从1993年到1999年举办了三届大会）。拉丁美洲在国际专业期刊上的发文量有所增加，比如我们协会（国际人类和动物真菌学会）的期刊（从1967年的8%增至1999年的19%），以及《伊比利亚美洲真菌学杂志》（《Revista Iberoamericana de Micologia》；1997年至1999年超过40%）。此外，拉丁美洲在国际人类和动物真菌学会国际大会上的参会率从1975年的6.9%升至1997年的21.3%，在首次于拉丁美洲国家阿根廷举办的第14届国际人类和动物真菌学会大会上达到了43.2%。女性对拉丁美洲医学真菌学科学建制的显著贡献（例如，1987年在《医学与兽医学真菌学杂志》上发表的论文中，45%的拉丁美洲论文作者或共同作者为女性，而其他地区这一比例为18%）表明，与发达国家的女性相比，拉丁美洲女性在学术上得到了更好的对待。总体而言，尽管我们地区面临诸多困难并影响到我们的工作，但所有这些数据都反映出我们拉丁美洲该领域同事的热情。
