PINTA 



2093 



gillus barbcB). Occasionally both types of fungi are found on the 

 same patient. The affection is very chronic. The diagnosis is 

 easy, the characteristic aspergillus and penicillium fructifications 

 distinguishing this condition from other 

 parasitic nodular affections. The simplest 

 method of treatment is by shaving, and 

 afterwards using regularly a medicated 

 soap, such as carbolic soap, tar soap, or 

 sulphur soap. If the patient does not wish 

 to shave his beard, turpentine may be 

 tried. 



In natives who do not bathe frequently, such 

 as old persons and beggars, the skin presents 

 often large dark patches due to accumulated dirt,, 

 in which aspergillar and penicillar fungi are 

 often present, living saprophytically. This con- 

 dition has nothing to do with pinta, as a thorough 

 scrubbing with soap will remove the dirt and the 

 aspergillar and penicillar fungi which may be Fig, 840. — Penicillium 

 present. fructification, 



PINTA. 



Synonyms. — Mai de los Pintos, Mai del Pinto, Caraate, Tina, 

 Qiiirica, Pannus Carateus (Alibert), Tache Endemique des Cordil- 

 lieres (Alibert), Lota, Cativi, Bulpiss (Lerch). 



Definition. — The term ' pinta ' does not indicate a single disease, 

 but a group of closely allied dermatomycoses characterized by the 

 presence of patches of various colour, due to different species of fungi 

 of the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Monilia, and Monioyella. 



History. — ^The disease first began to draw the attention of medical 

 writers in the eighteenth century, though it was apparently well 

 known to the inhabitants of the affected regions since remote times, 

 as it is found to have formed the subject of prayers and supplications 

 used by the Aztecs centuries before the Spanish Conquest. 



A short description of the malady is found in the Encyclopsedia 

 of Polanko, of Mexico, in 1760 ; and in Juan de Velasco's ' Historia,' 

 in 1789, in Columbia. Velasco believed the malady to have been 

 imported by African slaves. A fairly complete description is given 

 by Alibert, in 1829, under the name of ' tache endemique des Cor- 

 dillieres,' or 'pannus carateus.' Among the modern authors, the 

 clinical and pathological investigation of Gomez, Uribe, Vribechyel, 

 Iryz, Ruiz y Sandoval, Gastambide, may be mentioned. 



More recently the investigation into the aetiology of pinta by 

 Montoya has been of the greatest importance. 



Climatology. — Pinta is practically Hmited to tropical America, 

 where it is found in Venezuela, Peru, Chili, Central American States, 

 Mexico. Cases have been reported from Brazil. It is extremely 

 common in Columbia, where, according to Montoya, 4 per cent, of 

 the total population is affected. There the patient affected with 

 the disease is called ' caratejo.' The disease is not equally dis- 



