The Brazilian Society of Toxinology (SBTx) comes of age

Abstract

THE BRAZILIAN SOCIETY OF TOXINOLOGY (SBTx) COMES OF AGE Toxinology as a Science in Brazil undoubtedly started with Vital Brazil Mineiro da Campanha (1865-1950), whose name carries with it the country, the state and the city of his birth. This physician became known, at first, by his clinical activities in Public Health dedicated to important diseases such as the yellow fever, bubonic pest, smallpox and the cholera, among others. However, impressed by the high number and seriousness of human accidents by venomous snake bites while living in Botucatu (1895-1897), a city in the state of São Paulo, he decided to change his study focus. Moving to the Bacteriological Institute [Instituto Bacteriológico], São Paulo State, in 1897, he performed his first experiments with snake venoms with the support of Drs. Adolfo Lutz and Albert Calmette, who shared with him their experience with anti-snake venom serum production. The enthusiasm and dedication of Dr. Vital Brazil rendered him an invitation to move to the Serum Therapeutic Institute [Instituto Serumtherapico], São Paulo State. In 1901, Dr. Vital Brazil started his activities on the production of immune sera and vaccines in a laboratory that had been installed in a farm named Butantan. This was the first laboratory in Brazil dedicated to vaccine and antivenom production based on horse immunization. Today, Butantan Institute [Instituto Butantan], named after this pioneer farm, is an internationally known institution. Together with other governmental institutes, such as Ezequiel Dias Foundation [Fundação Ezequiel Dias] (Minas Gerais State) and Vital Brazil Institute [Instituto Vital Brazil] (created by Dr. Vital Brazil himself in July 1919, at Niteroi city, Rio de Janeiro State), Butantan Institute not only accounts for the production of antivenoms and other biotechnological products, but is also internationally known as a reference center in the study of animal venoms. Besides Dr. Vital Brazil, other distinguished scientists wrote the first chapters in the history of Toxinology in Brazil; among them, Dr. Maurício Rocha e Silva and his collaborators who discovered the nonapeptide Bradykinin while studying snake venoms. Rocha e Silva also formed some authorities in animal venoms, such as Dr.