Carlos Juan Finlay

Carlos Juan Finlay y Barrés (Puerto Príncipe, present-day Camagüey, Captaincy General of Cuba, December 3, 1833 – Havana, Cuba, August 19, 1915), generally cited as < b>Carlos J. Finlay, was a Spanish-Cuban doctor and scientist. He discovered and described the importance of the biological vector through the metaxenic theory of disease transmission by biological agents, applying it to yellow fever, transmitted by the fertilized female of the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Despite having discovered the origin of yellow fever and having demonstrated the presence of a transmitter (vector) and being nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Medicine, he never received that recognition.

Biographical information

Early years and education

The son of an English doctor residing in Cuba who had fought alongside Simón Bolívar and a Spanish mother, he was born in 1833 in the Captaincy General of Cuba Province of Cuba, when Cuba was part of the Kingdom of Spain. His childhood years were spent both in Havana and in his father's coffee plantation in the Alquízar area. At the age of eleven, in 1844, he was sent to study in Le Havre, in France, and he returned to Cuba two years later, because he contracted an illness. He returned to France in 1848 to complete his education. After a period of two years in London, he entered the Rouen lyceum, where he remained until 1851, when he returned to Cuba, convalescing from a bout of typhoid fever. He would change the order of the names from him to Carlos Juan later.

Professional Studies

The University of Havana did not want to recognize his European degrees, so he enrolled at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There Finlay met John Kearsley Mitchell, who proposed the theoretical germ theory of disease to him. His daughter, Silas Weir Mitchell, was the one who supervised his studies. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1855. He returned to Havana and began practicing ophthalmology in 1857, and studied in Paris from 1860 to 1861. In October 1865 he married Adela Shine, a native of the island of Trinity. They had three sons: Charles, George, and Frank.^{[citation needed]}

Professional career

Finlay worked through the 1870s and finally came to prominence in 1900. He was the first to propose in 1881 the theory of the mosquito as a transmitter, now known as a vector of the disease, the causative organism of yellow fever. The mosquito that bit a sick person could later bite a healthy person and infect them.^{[citation needed]}

Indifference to your research paper

He presented his theory in 1881 at the International Sanitary Conference, where his proposal was not well received, which was viewed with scorn, disbelief, and mockery. A year later, Finlay identified the Aedes mosquito as the transmitter of yellow fever. His theory was followed by the recommendations for control in the mosquito population and that was how the spread of the disease could be controlled.

His hypothesis and exhaustive tests were confirmed about 20 years later by the Walter Reed Commission of 1900. Finlay became head of the Cuban Health Office from 1902 to 1909. Dr. Reed received much credit in the history books for the "beating" he gave yellow fever, but Reed credited Dr Finlay for the discovery of the yellow fever vector. Dr. Walter Reed frequently quoted Finlay in his articles and credited him for the discovery in his correspondence.

In the words of General Leonard Wood, a US military physician, Governor of Cuba in 1900: «Dr. Finlay's confirmation is considered the first step forward made in medical science since Jenner's discovery for vaccination (against smallpox).

This discovery helped Dr. William C. Gorgas reduce the incidence and prevalence of mosquito-borne disease in Panama during the American campaign to build the Panama Canal. Prior to this, about 10% of the workforce died each year from malaria and yellow fever.

Yellow Fever

He studied yellow fever, and from his analyzes and studies he came to the conclusion that the transmission of the disease was carried out by an intermediary agent. There is an anecdote that says that, while he was praying the rosary one night, a mosquito buzzing around him caught his attention. That's when he decided to investigate them.

With the means provided by the mixed Spanish-American commission, he was able to identify the Aedes aegypti mosquito as the epidemiological vector of the disease. His studies led him to understand that it was the fertilized female of this species that transmitted yellow fever.

In February 1881 he went to Washington D.C. as a representative of the colonial government to the 5th. session of the International Sanitary Conference, where he first presented his theory of the transmission of yellow fever by an intermediary agent, the mosquito. His hypothesis was received with coldness and almost total skepticism. It was only disclosed by a modest medical journal in New Orleans through Dr. Rudolph Matas, a recent graduate in Medicine, who had participated in the Spanish-American mixed commission as an interpreter, because he was the son of Spaniards.

Back in Cuba, in June 1881, he carried out experiments with volunteers and not only verified his hypothesis, but also discovered that the individual bitten once by an infected mosquito was immunized against future attacks of the disease. From there the serum against yellow fever was born. On August 14 of that same year, he presented his research work before the Royal Academy of Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana. Thanks to his recommendations on mosquito control, he was able to control the spread of the disease.

International recognition

For more than 20 years Finlay's postulates were ignored. Only after the end of the Spanish-American War, when General Leonard Wood, Governor of Cuba, asked that Finlay's theory be tested, were his research papers reviewed again, as well as the experiments he had carried out.

Meanwhile, Dr. William Crawford Gorgas, a military doctor who had unsuccessfully tried to eradicate yellow fever in Santiago de Cuba, was appointed Superior Chief of Health in Havana in December 1898. At Finlay's initiative, he created a Cuban Yellow Fever Commission which, following the instructions of the Cuban doctor, fought the mosquito and isolated the sick. In just seven months the disease had disappeared from Cuba.^{[citation needed]}

The isthmus and the Panama Canal

Doctor Gorgas was finally sent to clean up the Isthmus of Panama in order to complete the construction of the canal; there he applied the same principles indicated by Dr. Finlay, which undoubtedly allowed the successful completion of this great engineering work. A plaque on the Panama Canal itself recognizes the contribution of Dr. Carlos J. Finlay to the success of this great work. On August 15, 1914, the first ship passed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the canal.^{[citation needed]}

Doctor's Day

The Pan American Medical Confederation recommended celebrating December 3 as Doctor's Day in various countries of the Americas, in memory of Dr. Finlay.

Microbiology Award

Also in his honor, the Cuban government created the "Carlos J. Finlay" Microbiology Prize, which UNESCO awards every two years to researchers whose work on topics related to microbiology (immunology, molecular biology, genetics and others) has contributed significantly to health. Its goal is to promote research and advances in microbiology.

Looking outside the Historical Museum of Medical Sciences "Carlos J. Finlay" of the Cuban Academy of Sciences in Havana.

Acknowledgments and Honors

• A street in Cuba in the center of Old Havana. In 1962, the Revolutionary Government founded a history museum of medicine in its honor.
• In Honduras, the park dedicated to Dr. Finlay is located in the La Ronda district of the city of Tegucigalpa.
• In the municipality of Marianao, now a suburb of the city of Havana, there is a syringe-shaped monument in honor of Dr. Finlay, who is usually referred to as "The Obelisk".
• It was commemorated in a Cuban stamp in 1981.
• A memorial statue of Dr. Finlay is located in front of Panama City Bay, near the place that his help made possible his construction.
• UNESCO awards the Microbiology Award with the name of Carlos J. Finlay named after him in his honor.
• Finlay was a member of the Real Academia Médica y de Ciencias Naturales de la Habana.
• The French, German, Spanish, English and the French were very fluent and read Latin.
• His knowledge was very extensive and he wrote articles about the varieties of leprosy, cholera, gravity and plant diseases.
• His main interest was about yellow fever. His theory that there was an intermediary guest responsible for the spread of the disease was treated with ridicule and indifference for years.
• A very human person who frequently took patients who could not afford medical care.
• As a result of his work. Finlay was finally nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, without winning the prize.
• He received the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France in 1908.
• In Mexico City there are two squares with their name.

Death

Finlay died of a stroke, caused by severe convulsions, at his home in Havana on August 20, 1915.

Legacy

In 1928, President Gerardo Machado established the Carlos J. Finlay National Order of Merit, rewarding contributions in health care and medicine. It is the highest prize and scientific decoration for a Citizen of the Cuban State. The order was withdrawn between 1959 and 1981.

On the wall of the Finlay Museum of Medical History in Havana, the inscription mentions that it was created by the Revolutionary Government as an eternal tribute to the man who contributed to the advancement of science in Cuba. National Commission of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Cuba. Havana June 13, 1962.

Finlay was honored with a Google Doodle (engraving) on December 3, 2013 on the 180th anniversary of his birth.