On August 14, 1881, in Cuba Dr. Carlos Juan Finlay was able to demonstrate that the Aedes aegypti mosquito is the transmitting agent of yellow fever.
Finlay studied yellow fiber through analysis and research, concluding that the disease was transmitted by an intermediary agent, unknown at the time.
According to some anecdotes, the Doctor began to study what would be the main transmitter of this disease - the female of the Cuiex mosquito or Aedes aegypti- because one day he began to be bothered by the buzzing of the insect. His studies led him to understand that the yellow fever transmitting agent was the fertilized female, of this mosquito species.
Aedes aegypti, also known as the yellow fever mosquito, is a culicide that can be the carrier of dengue virus, as well as other diseases, such as chikungunya, Zika fever and Mayaro virus.
This species is distinguished by white marks, although their differences in appearance with respect to other mosquitoes may be slight. It is native to Africa, even though specimens have been found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
As for America, this species can be found from the southern states of the United States to northern Argentina, although some cases have also been found in Uruguay.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that this species of mosquito causes 50 million infections and 25,000 deaths per year. For the prevention of bites, health agencies recommend the use of repellents that contain N, N-diethylmetaloluamide (DEET), considered the best repellent for Aedes aegypti.
According to the WHO, yellow fever is an acute, hemorrhagic viral disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The term "yellow" refers to jaundice in some patients. Its symptoms are fever, headache, jaundice, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and tiredness. Most patients with yellow fever, after presenting these severe symptoms, die within 7 to 10 days. The areas most affected by this endemic virus are Tropical Africa, Central and South America.
For more than 20 years, Finlay's postulates were ignored and only, after the Spanish-American War was over, when the General and Governor of Cuba, Leonard Wood, requested that the doctor's theory be tested, his research papers were reviewed again. , as well as the experiments he had performed.
Meanwhile, the Military Doctor who had tried to eradicate the disease in Santiago de Cuba, William Crawford Gorgas, was appointed Chief of Health in Havana, in December 1898.
Finlay created a Cuban Commission of the Yellow Fever that, following the instructions of the Cuban Doctor, fought against the mosquito and isolated the sick, until the disease was eradicated in Cuba, in just seven months.