Hispanic America USA, Inc,. a Non-Profit Organization providing an overview of    Contributions of Hispanics & Spanish Speaking America - World and United States History
                                       Copyright © 1996-97 all rights reserved

                                                 By Elias Padilla

                 In medicine, Dr. Walter Reed is generally credited with originating the theory of yellow fever transmission by mosquitos. The truth is that he only confirmed this theory. Carlos Juan Finlay, a modest Cuban physician, was the one who actually originated it. Up until the time that Dr. Finlay began his research into yellow fever, the medical research profession worldwide believed this disease was transmitted through the air or produced by a putrid substance from dead marine organisms. In 1879, Dr. Finlay suspected this theory was wrong and began his research, which lasted two years, after which his findings convinced him that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitos. For the next 22 years, American scientists, including Dr. Reed, repeatedly rebuffed Finlay's attempts to convince them that his theory was correct. During this period, yellow fever killed more American soldiers than died in the Spanish-American War and claimed the lives of 52,000 French workers constructing the Panama Canal. It wasn't until 1901 that the American scientists, following the lead of their colleagues in Mexico, Cuba and Europe, finally confirmed Dr. Finlay's theory. One can only wonder how many lives would have been saved if more people had listened to him earlier.

In 1933, the world paid homage to Finlay in Dallas, Texas, when leaders of medicine from the Western Hemisphere named December 3, his birthday, as the "Day of American Medicine."

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