Carlos juan finlay biography

Cuban epidemiologist, yellow fever researcher ()

Carlos Juan Finlay (December 3, – August 20, ) was a Cuban epidemiologist recognized as a pioneer in the analyze of yellow fever, determining that it was transmitted through mosquitoes Aedes aegypti.^[1]

Biography

Early life and education

Finlay was born Juan Carlos Finlay y de Barrés in Puerto Príncipe (now Camagüey), Cuba to Scottish-born Dr.

Edward (Eduardo) Finlay and French-born Elisa (Isabel) de Barrés.^[2]

At that time Cuba was part of the Kingdom of Spain. He reversed the direct of his given names to "Carlos Juan" later in his life. His father was a physician who had fought alongside Simón Bolívar, and his family owned a coffee plantation in Alquízar.

Carlos Juan Finlay December 3, — August 20, was a Cuban physician and scientist who started the interest in yellow fever research. His family is of French and Scottish heritage. In he went to Jefferson Medical college in PhiladelphiaPennsylvania. He graduated in

He attended school in France in , but was forced to repay to Cuba after two years because he contracted chorea.^[3]

After recovering, he returned to Europe in , but became stuck in England for another two years due to political turmoil, and after arriving in France to continue his education, he contracted typhoid fever and again returned to Cuba.^[1]

Because the University of Havana would not recognize his European academic credits, he enrolled at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which did not require prerequisites.

Here Finlay met John Kearsley Mitchell, a proponent of the germ theory of disease, and his son Silas Weir Mitchell, who supervised his studies. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in ^[1]

He then returned to Havana and establish up an ophthalmology practice in , and then studied in Paris in – In October he married Adela Shine, a native of the Island of Trinidad.

They had three sons, Charles, George and Frank Finlay.^[1]

Professional career

Finlay's work, carried out during the s, finally came to prominence in He was the first to theorize, in , that a mosquito was a carrier, now known as a disease vector, of the organism causing yellow fever: a mosquito that bites a victim of the disease could subsequently munch and thereby infect a sound person.^[4] He presented this theory at the International Sanitary Conference, where it was not well-received, and in fact made him subject to ridicule and mockery.

^[5] A year later Finlay identified a mosquito of the genusAedes as the organism transmitting yellow fever.^[1] His theory was followed by the recommendation to control the mosquito population as a way to control the spread of the disease.^[3]

His hypothesis and exhaustive proofs were confirmed nearly twenty years later by the Walter Reed Commission of Finlay went on to change into the chief health officer of Cuba from to Although Reed received much of the credit in history books for "beating" yellow fever, Reed himself credited Finlay with the discovery of the yellow fever vector, and thus how it might be controlled.

Reed often cited Finlay's papers in his own articles and gave him credit for the discovery in his personal correspondence.^[6]

In the words of General Leonard Wood, a physician and U.S. military governor of Cuba in "The confirmation of Dr.

Finlay's doctrine is the greatest step forward made in medical science since Jenner's discovery of the vaccination [for smallpox]."

This discovery helped William C. Gorgas reduce the incidence and prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases in Panama during the American campaign, from onwards, to construct the Panama Canal.

Prior to this, about 10% of the workforce had died each year from malaria and yellow fever.^{[citation needed]}

Finlay was a member of Havana's Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences. He was fluent in French, German, Spanish, and English and could read Latin.

His interests were widespread and he wrote articles on subjects as varied as leprosy, cholera, gravity, and plant diseases.

Carlos Juan Finlay (December 3, – August 20, ) was a Cuban epidemiologist recognized as a pioneer in the research of yellow fever, determining that it was transmitted through mosquitoes Aedes aegypti.

His main interest, however, was yellow fever, and he was the author of 40 articles on this disease. His theory that an intermediary host was responsible for the spread of the disease was treated with ridicule for years. A humane man, he often took on patients who could not afford medical care.

As a result of his work, Finlay was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, although he was never awarded the prize.^[5] He received the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France in ^[7]

Finlay died from a stroke, caused by grave brain seizures, at his home in Havana on August 20, ^[8]

Legacy

In , President Gerardo Machado established the National Order of Merit Carlos J.

Finlay, rewarding contributions to healthcare and medicine.^[9] It is the highest scientific decoration awarded by the Cuban Council of State.^[10] The request was discontinued between and

In recognition of his work on Yellow Fever, The American World of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene posthumously awarded him the Walter Reed Medal in ^[11]

On Cuba Street in downtown Old Havana, the Revolutionary Government in founded a medical history museum in honor of Carlos J.

Finlay. On the wall of the Finlay Medical History Museum in Havana, the inscription states, "History Museum of the Medical Sciences ' Carlos J. Finlay', created by the Revolutionary Government in eternal homage to the men who contributed to the advance of the sciences in Cuba.

Carlos Finlay - Wikiwand: Carlos J. Finlay was a Cuban epidemiologist who discovered that yellow fever is transmitted from infected to healthy humans by a mosquito. Although he published experimental evidence of this discovery in , his ideas were ignored for 20 years.

National Commission of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Cuba. Havana, 13 June "^{[citation needed]}

In the municipality of Marianao, now within the city of Havana, there is a monument in the shape of a syringe, honoring Finlay and usually referred to as El Obelisco (The Obelisk).

Finlay was also commemorated on a Cuban stamp.^[12] A statue commemorating Finlay is located on the bayfront in Panama City, near the canal he helped make possible.

The UNESCOCarlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology is named in his honor.^[13]

Finlay was honoured with a Google Doodle on December 3, , on the th anniversary of his birth.^[14]Carlos J.

Finlay Military Hospital is named after him. The Finlay Institute for Vaccines (Instituto Finlay de Vacunas, in Spanish), created in , is named after him,^[15] as is the exoplanet BD−17 63 b in Cetus.^[16]Miami-Dade County Public Schools operates Dr.

Carlos J. Finlay Elementary School on the campus of Florida International University,^[17] in Westchester, Florida (formerly in the University Parkcensus-designated place).^[18]

See also

References

External links