History of dermatology and venereology in Serbia – part IV/2: Dermatovenereology in Serbia from 1919 – 1945, part 2

After the First World War, Serbia was facing the lack of hospitals and physicians, and organization of the health care system was a real challenge. Both problems were closely associated with dermatovenereology. Between the two world wars, a great contribution to the development of Serbian dermatovenereology as a current discipline was given by Prof. Dr. Đorđe Đorđević, who was the first director of the Clinic for Skin and Venereal Diseases in Belgrade (1922 - 1935), and by his closest associate Prof. Dr. Milan Kićevac (1892 - 1940) who was his successor at the position of the director of the Clinic (1935 - 1940). In 1922, Prof. Dr. Đorđe Đorđević was the founder of two institutions significant for Serbian dermatovenereology: Clinic for Skin and Venereal Diseases, where he also acted as a director, and the Department of Dermatovenereology at the School of Medicine in Belgrade, where he was the first teacher of dermatovenereology. In 1927, Prof. Dr. Đorđe Đorđević initiated the foundation of the Dermatovenereology Section of the Serbian Medical Society, and he and his associate and successor, Prof. Dr. Milan Kićevac were the main organizers of the Association of Dermatovenereologists of Yugoslavia. With this Association, all other regional dermatovenereology sections in the County became parts of the Pan-Slavic Dermatovenereology Association. Prof. Dr. Đorđe Đorđević and Prof. Dr. Milan Kićevac also organized the First, Second and the Third Yugoslav Dermatovenereology Congresses (1927, 1928, and 1929), and in 1931, the Second Congress of Pan-Slavic Dermatovenereology Association. Their teamwork resulted in legislation concerned with health care, eradication of venereal diseases and prostitution, and finally with setting the foundation for professional and scientific dermatovenereology in Serbia. Prof. Đ. Đorđević investigated current problems of venereal diseases and organized professional expeditions in Serbia and Montenegro studying the expansion of syphilis. However, in his experimental work, Prof. M. Kićevac investigated photo-dermatoses and the IV venereal disease, at the same time pointing to immunological phenomena in streptococcal and staphylococcal infections. Dr. Vojislav Mihailović (1879 - 1949) was a significant figure in Serbian dermatovenereology and acted as the Chief of the Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases within the General Public Hospital in Belgrade. His scientific papers and books on the history of dermatovenereology and general medicine had a great impact on the Serbian dermatovenereology. His books dealing with the history of dermatovenereology: “The History of Venereal Diseases till 1912” and “Out of the History of Sanitary Health Care in the Rebuilt Serbia from 1804 - 1860”. Associate Professor Dr. Sava Bugarski (1897 - 1945), a student of Prof. Dr. Kićevac and later the director of Clinic for Skin and Venereal Diseases in Belgrade (1940 - 1945), was engaged in the field of experimental dermatovenereology. Dr. Jovan Nenadović (1875 - 1952), one of the most eminent physicians in Novi Sad, took part in the foundation and work of the Dermatovenereology Section of the Serbian Medical Society as well as its honorary life president. In 1919, he founded the Dermatovenereology Department within the Novi Sad Hospital, as well as an Outpatient Dermatovenereology Clinic, outside the Hospital, although he was the director of both institutions. In the period between the two world wars, among the most prominent physicians of the Military Sanitary Headquarters who contributed the development of dermatovenereology were the chiefs of the Dermatovenereology Department of the General Military Hospital in Belgrade: Major, later on, Brigadier General, Dr. Božidar Janković (1874 - 1936), and the Sanitary Brigadier General, Dr. Milivoje Pantić (1885 - 1959). Dr. B. Janković wrote important professional papers, among which the following are most significant: ”Fight against Venereal Diseases in the Army” and ”Treatment of Syphilis with Silber-Salvarsan.” Distinguished physicians of the military sanitary service, such as Dr. Petar Davidović, made significant contributions to the work of civilian dermatovenereology institutions of that time. In 1921, Dr. Petar Davidović was the director of the newly founded Venereal Department of the Niš Public Hospital, which was on a high professional level.