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Carlos J. Finlay: 130 Years of His Discovery |
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Written by Iris Armas Padrino (acn)|
Friday, 12 August 2011 10:43
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 One of the most important moments in the history of Cuban science was the discovery, registered on August 14th, 1881, that mosquitoes were the transmitting agents of several infectious diseases such a the yellow fever.
Such revelation, exposed on that date by Dr. Carlos Finlay in the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences in Havana, marked a before and after in the investigations on who was the transmitter of the yellow fever.
Unfortunately for the Cuban scientist and the world, there were attempts to give the merit to US doctor Walter Reed and the American Military Commission that operated in Cuba during the first intervention of the US government on Cuba.
It was not until the unanimous approval of the motion presented by the Cuban delegation to the 10th International Medical History Congress, held in Madrid, Spain in 1935 when they recognized that Finlay was the first to scientifically prove that the mosquito Aedes Aegypti was the transmitter of the disease.
It was established in the meeting that the Cuban specialist was the first to carry out hygiene measures for the prevention of the yellow fever and expressed the extraordinary role carried out by his education in the cleaning the area of the Panama Canal during its construction at the end of the 19th century.
His contribution to international medicine allowed discovering the way the yellow fever is spread and controlled it after the terrible epidemiologic scourge of the time on the island.
After 130 years of the relevant event, Cuba currently exhibits unquestionable achievements in the control and elimination of the mosquitoes and today the disease is not a main concern for the country.
The Cuban health care system destines a large amount of resources to maintain the control of the insect and impede for the population to suffer from the presence of the Aedes Aegypti, transmitter of the dengue disease.
There is a prevention and control system to avoid the proliferation of the mosquito and maintains a close eye at communities, neighborhoods, airports, ports, and other places that might constitute a risk.
The island has research centers and hospital installations with qualified personnel that dedicate their efforts to diagnose and assist the few cases that are currently reported in the country.
The date in the important discovery by Dr. Carlos J. Finlay seems far behind but today it is important to go back to the events especially when the dengue disease is affecting thousands of people in the poor nations in the world.
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