Carlos Juan FinlayBorn 3 Dec 1833; died 20 Aug 1915 at age 81.Cuban epidemiologist who contributed to the etiology and pathology of yellow fever. He pioneered the recognition of the mosquito as the agent of transmission from infected to healthy humans, which idea he published in 1881. This disease can cause horrible deaths in epidemic numbers. His experimental work pointed to the mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Despite the publication of his significant work in 1886, his ideas were ahead of their time, and ignored by the medical community until 20 years later, then 14 years after his death. His work was taken up by the Reed Commission in 1900. Finlay served in Cuba as the chairman of the commission on infectious diseases, Havana (1899-1902) and chief sanitary officer (1902-09).« |
