RHINOSCLEROMA IN BRAZIL: With a Report of a Case

BRAZIL has been mentioned as one of the South American countries which has a focus of rhinoscleroma. This is an erroneous deduction, since the survey has shown that only 25 cases had been recorded in Brazilian medical history prior to the report of the case presented here. Up to 1940 only 1 patient with rhinoscleroma was encountered among 16,000 patients examined in our clinics. A survey of all Brazilian literature and personal communications with directors and professors of large clinics definitely prove that Brazil cannot be considered as a country that has a focus of rhinoscleroma, particularly since only 16 of the 26 verified cases reported were autochthonous. This small group of cases found in Brazil certainly does not compare with the incidence reported from Russia, where 1,500 cases were reported in 1932. Prof. Eduardo Morais, in discussing a report presented by Ermiro Lima and George da Silva at the