Thread by @RamonVirasoro

#ThrowbackThurday
137 years ago, to the day, Carlos J. Finlay, Cuban physician and researcher was born. He discovered that #YellowFever is transmitted by the mosquito #AedesAegiptis. In his honor @opsoms established December 3 as #DiaDelMedico in #Latinoamerica

Juan Carlos Finlay y de Barrés was born in Puerto Príncipe (now Camagüey), Cuba to Scottish-born Dr. Edward (Eduardo) Finlay and French-born Elisa (Isabel) de Barrés.

A graduate of @JeffersonUniv, #Philadelphia (1855), he returned to #Cuba, where he practiced medicine in #Havana.

In 1879 Finlay was appointed by the Cuban government to work with the North American commission studying the causes of yellow fever.

In 1889 he was chosen to attend the 5th International Sanitary Conference in #WashingtonDC, as the Cuban delegate. Finlay urged the study of #YellowFever vectors, and soon afterward he stated that the carrier was the mosquito #CulexFasciatus, now known as #AedesAegypti.

In 1900 the @USArmy #YellowFeverCommission, lead by the physician Walter Reed, arrived in Cuba, and Finlay attempted to persuade Reed of his mosquito-vector theory. Although skeptical, Reed decided to investigate the idea, refining Finlay’s experimental procedures in the process.

The @USArmy appointed 3 physicians to serve on the commission under Reed’s direction: James Carroll, Arístides Agramonte, and Jesse Lazear,

In August of 1900, Walter Reed temporarily returned to D.C., while Lazear and Carroll began conducting experiments with mosquitoes in Havana’s Las Animas Hospital.

After several failed attempts to infect volunteer subjects with #yellowfever, Carroll decided to experiment on himself, contracting the disease from an infected mosquito. Carroll survived the infection, but would suffer from complications of yellow fever for the rest of his life

The infection of Carroll suggested that Carlos Finlay, long mocked by his colleagues as the “Mosquito Man,” was right. Excitement and joy would soon give way to tragedy. On Sept. 18, Jesse Lazear contracted yellow fever, and died from the disease on Sept. 25

Walter Reed set out to design a series of experiments that would incontrovertibly prove Finlay’s theory. The commission established a facility outside La Havana to conduct the research safely and effectively. They named it "Camp Lazear" in honor of Jessie Lazear

The commission began to recruit human test subjects for the experiments. Human experimentation at that time was not uncommon in medical research, but the way it was generally practiced in the #19thcentury would be considered abhorrent today.

The Yellow Fever Commission did not engage in these practices. Instead, they put out calls for U.S. soldiers and recent Spanish immigrants to volunteer for the study. The commission wanted non-immune subjects who had no history of previously being infected with yellow fever.

The only instances of contracting #yellowfever occurred with people isolated in a sterile environment and exposed to mosquitoes known to have been infected with #yellowfever with a proper incubation time. This last detail was the missing piece from Carlos Finlay's experiments.

Acknowledging the breakthroughs that the Cuban researcher had achieved, Reed welcomed Finlay to Camp Lazear to observe the tests.

in this #COVID19 #pandemic times it is important to recognize the scientist that lead to the understanding and controlling of comunicable diseases, and honor health care workers fighting the #SARSCoV2, especially those that died fighting

Feliz día del Medico colegas Latino Americanos

britannica.com/biography/Carl…
britannica.com/biography/Walt…
news.virginia.edu/content/walter…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Fi…
shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/feve…
khn.org/news/exclusive…

@threadreaderapp please unroll