Carlos Finlay and the Yellow Fever
On October 11, 1793, the death toll from the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia had reached 100. By the time this epidemic ended, 5,000 people (9% of the total population in the United States at the time) were dead (Frierson 2010). Due to an unknown cause of illness, in addition to the rapid onset of the disease, yellow fever would be regarded as one of the most devastating diseases at the time. We now know that yellow fever is a serious disease caused by an infection with Flavivirus; the disease is transmitted by infected mosquitos that, causing large epidemics in Africa and the Americas (Frierson 2010). There always comes a time, however, where a talented scientist was able to solve complex case through experimentation. In this case, understanding the illness through a host-vector relationship model served as an instrumental key that would change the scene of clinical practice in the 1850s. The story began with a Cuban scientist named …show more content…
Since his family owned a large plantation in the Guanimar region, Finlay would spend much of his childhood in a family home on the plantation in Havana. In 1844, He was sent to begin his formal education in France; however, Finlay’s studies were interrupted due to a series of illnesses such as the typhoid fever, and the only program he could enter without pre-requisite courses was at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Although far from his hometown, his decision to study in Philadelphia would have a major impact on his future career as an epidemiologist and a physician, for it was here that he met and befriended the family of John Kearsly Mitchell. Mitchell was an outspoken proponent of the germ theory of disease, which states that some illnesses are caused by micro-organisms that can invade animals, humans, and other living
On October 11, 1793, the death toll from the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia had reached 100. By the time this epidemic ended, 5,000 people (9% of the total population in the United States at the time) were dead (Frierson 2010). Due to an unknown cause of illness, in addition to the rapid onset of the disease, yellow fever would be regarded as one of the most devastating diseases at the time. We now know that yellow fever is a serious disease caused by an infection with Flavivirus; the disease is transmitted by infected mosquitos that, causing large epidemics in Africa and the Americas (Frierson 2010). There always comes a time, however, where a talented scientist was able to solve complex case through experimentation. In this case, understanding the illness through a host-vector relationship model served as an instrumental key that would change the scene of clinical practice in the 1850s. The story began with a Cuban scientist named …show more content…
Since his family owned a large plantation in the Guanimar region, Finlay would spend much of his childhood in a family home on the plantation in Havana. In 1844, He was sent to begin his formal education in France; however, Finlay’s studies were interrupted due to a series of illnesses such as the typhoid fever, and the only program he could enter without pre-requisite courses was at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Although far from his hometown, his decision to study in Philadelphia would have a major impact on his future career as an epidemiologist and a physician, for it was here that he met and befriended the family of John Kearsly Mitchell. Mitchell was an outspoken proponent of the germ theory of disease, which states that some illnesses are caused by micro-organisms that can invade animals, humans, and other living