Mosquito transmission of yellow fever
Transmisión de la fiebre amarilla por el mosquito Aedes
- Date
- 1881 · confidence high
- Place
- Havana, Cuba
- Credited to
- Carlos J. Finlay
- People
- 👤 Carlos Juan Finlay1833–1915
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
In 1881 Finlay proposed that yellow fever is transmitted by a specific mosquito (today Aedes aegypti), the first vector-transmission theory of a human disease. The Reed Commission confirmed it in Cuba in 1900.
Finlay's priority was played down for years in favour of Walter Reed; he is now fully credited.
What it led to
- eradication of urban yellow fever in Havana (1901)
- construction of the Panama Canal
- vector control as a public-health strategy