Carlos Juan Finlay
(born Dec. 3, 1833, Puerto PrÃncipe, Cuba — died Aug. 20, 1915, Havana) Cuban epidemiologist. He is known for his discovery that
yellow fever is transmitted by a mosquito. Though he published experimental evidence in 1886, his ideas were ignored for nearly 20 years. He urged the study of means of transmission and stated that the carrier was the mosquito
Culex fasciatus (now called
Aedes aegypti). In 1900
Walter Reed confirmed Finlay's theory, leading to the eradication of yellow fever in Cuba and Panama by
William Gorgas. After his death, the Cuban government created the Finlay Institute for Investigations in Tropical Medicine.
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