Jacinto Convit
García, Venezuelan leprologist (Caracas 11 September 1913 – Caracas 12 May 2014)
Internationally recognized as one of greatest
leprologists of his day
Authored over 300 papers
Described anergic diffuse
cutaneous leishmaniasis or Convit disease (1946)
With P. Lapenta. Sobre un caso de leishmaniasis tegumentaria
de forma diseminada. Rev.
Policlin. Caracas 28(100):153-8, 1948
With F. Kerdel Vegas & G. Rodríguez. Erythema dyschromicum perstans: A hitherto
undescribed skin disease. J. Invest. Dermatol. 36:457-62, 1961
Proposed armadillo
as an experimental animal model in leprosy research (1975)
With I.
Campo-Aasen & C. Alemán. New organelle observed in Leishmania brasiliensis. Trans. Roy. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 67:122-4,
1973
Developed an immunotherapeutic vaccine for leprosy and leishmaniasis (1982)
METHODS
First to perform vitamin E local infiltrations
on patients with leprosy (Convit method)
La Vitamina E. Las atrofias
musculares de la mano por neuritis leprosa y el tratamiento de estas lesiones por
el alfa-tocoferol. Rev. Sanid. As.
Social 8:641-8, 1943
With J. Jorgensen. Um método de absorción para la refinación
del aceite de Hydnocarpus wightiana
para inyecciones intramusculares. Los productos absorbidos. El test de Kreis y
el valor de Valenta en el pronostico de la tolerância. Conf. Panam. Lepra 3:2-12, 1947
Modified the Baker method for distinguishing Mycobacterium leprae and M. lepraemurium
With I. Campo-Aasen. Identification of the non-cultivable pathogenic mycobacteria M. leprae and M. lepraemurium. Int. J. Leprol. 36:166-70, 1968
With M.E. Pinardi. A simple method for the
differentiation of Mycobacterium leprae
from other mycobacteria through routine staining technic. Int. J. Lepr.
40:130-2, 1972
With J.L.
Avila, M. Goifman & M.E. Pinardi. A test for the determination of
competency in clearing bacilli in leprosy patients. Bull. Wld Health Org.
46:821-6, 1972
With M. Goihman-Yahr, E. Essenfeld Yahr, M.C. Albornoz, L.
Yarzabal et al. New method for
estimating direction of Paracoccidioides
brasiliensis by phagocytic cells in vitro. J. Clin. Microb.
103:365-70, 1979
Eponym of Convit method for preparing a soluble
skin test antigen and Convit soluble antigen
HONORS
Medicine & Physiology Nobel Prize nominee (1988)
Since 2011 by André Trombeta