Finlay, Carlos Juan (1833-1915), a Cuban physician, was the first person to suggest that yellow fever might be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito now known as the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti). The American Yellow Fever Commission, which went to Havana, Cuba, in 1900, conducted experiments using mosquitoes provided by Finlay. The experiments showed Finlay’s theory was correct.
Finlay was born on Dec. 3, 1833, in Puerto Principe (now Camaguey). He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1855. He was chief sanitary officer of Cuba from 1902 to 1909. He died on Aug. 20, 1915.
See also Yellow fever.
