Dr. Carlos Juan Finlay was born in Cuba in 1833. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA in 1855, he subsequently returned to Cuba to open his own medical practice. In 1879, Dr. Finlay was appointed by the Cuban government to work with the North American commission studying the causes of yellow fever. He was the first to theorize, in 1881, that a mosquito was the disease vector leading to yellow fever. The next year he successfully identified the Aedes mosquito as the insect host and recommended insect control as a way to control spread of the disease.
His theory that an intermediate host was responsible for the spread of the disease was treated with ridicule for many years. But in 1990, nearly 20 years later, Dr. Walter Reed traveled to Cuba as part of the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Board. At Dr. Finlay’s urging, Dr. Reed successfully confirmed Dr. Finlay’s original findings and thus paved the way for mosquito-control efforts that would eventually nearly eliminate mosquito-borne illnesses from the developed world. While the history books do not always recognize Dr. Finlay’s contribution, Dr. Reed himself recognized that the discovery of the mosquito vector was based almost entirely on Dr. Finlay’s original work. This discovery paved the way for the construction of the Panama Canal beginning in 1903. Prior to that, nearly 10% of the workforce died each year from a combination of malaria and yellow fever. Mosquito control efforts significantly reduced the incidence and prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases throughout Central and South America.
In recognition of his contributions to science, Dr. Finlay was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine and a commemorative statue was placed on the bayfront in Panama City, near the canal he helped make possible. After his death in 1915, the Finlay Institute for Investigations in Tropical Medicine was created in his honor by the Cuban government.
His theory that an intermediate host was responsible for the spread of the disease was treated with ridicule for many years. But in 1990, nearly 20 years later, Dr. Walter Reed traveled to Cuba as part of the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Board. At Dr. Finlay’s urging, Dr. Reed successfully confirmed Dr. Finlay’s original findings and thus paved the way for mosquito-control efforts that would eventually nearly eliminate mosquito-borne illnesses from the developed world. While the history books do not always recognize Dr. Finlay’s contribution, Dr. Reed himself recognized that the discovery of the mosquito vector was based almost entirely on Dr. Finlay’s original work. This discovery paved the way for the construction of the Panama Canal beginning in 1903. Prior to that, nearly 10% of the workforce died each year from a combination of malaria and yellow fever. Mosquito control efforts significantly reduced the incidence and prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases throughout Central and South America.
In recognition of his contributions to science, Dr. Finlay was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine and a commemorative statue was placed on the bayfront in Panama City, near the canal he helped make possible. After his death in 1915, the Finlay Institute for Investigations in Tropical Medicine was created in his honor by the Cuban government.