Carlos Juan Finlay's Character Sketch
Carlos Juan Finlay was born in current day Camagüey, Cuba to Edward Finlay and Eliza de Barrés on December 3, 1833.6 His father was a physician who had specialized in ophthalmology and fought along with Simon Bolivar. Although Finlay’s father was from Scotland and his mother was from France, they tried to embrace the Cuban culture and changed their names two years after arriving to Cuba. When he was 13 years old, Finlay was sent to France in order to start the first stage of formal education. He was later sent back to back to Cuba because he developed cholera. The cholera made it hard for him to talk so he had to enroll in speech therapy. He went to Europe again but delayed in coming to France because of the political turmoil during that time.
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However, after contracting typhoid fever he went back to Cuba. His original name was Juan Carlos Finlay but he changed it to Carlos Juan Finlay in his teenage years in order to show his loyalty to Cuba when he arrived back for the second time. The University of Havana did not recognize the European credits he had obtained which prevented him from obtaining a bachelor's degree. However, in 1851, he was able to get enrolled in Jefferson Medical …show more content…
There were a multitude of theories, the two main ones being miasma and fomites. The theory of miasma was that yellow fever and other diseases were spreading because of rotting organic matter caused by the climate, such as chemicals in soil which caused what was known as “night air”. The theory of fomites which basically said that microorganisms would attach to non living objects or things, such as doorknobs, clothing, etc…, and that was how diseases were being spread. In the mid 18th century believed in the theory of miasma at first as many of the diseases were spreading in warm climates. However, his opinions changed afterwards. Although the theory of germ disease was still a new concept, John Kearsley Mitchell and other professors influenced a great deal of what Finlay believed about microorganisms and the spread of diseases. While Carlos Finlay traveled from places to places, he would study the symptoms in the people affected caused by yellow fever and malaria. He started to realize that most of the people he examined would also have mosquito bites. Thus, he concluded that yellow fever was being spread by
However, after contracting typhoid fever he went back to Cuba. His original name was Juan Carlos Finlay but he changed it to Carlos Juan Finlay in his teenage years in order to show his loyalty to Cuba when he arrived back for the second time. The University of Havana did not recognize the European credits he had obtained which prevented him from obtaining a bachelor's degree. However, in 1851, he was able to get enrolled in Jefferson Medical …show more content…
There were a multitude of theories, the two main ones being miasma and fomites. The theory of miasma was that yellow fever and other diseases were spreading because of rotting organic matter caused by the climate, such as chemicals in soil which caused what was known as “night air”. The theory of fomites which basically said that microorganisms would attach to non living objects or things, such as doorknobs, clothing, etc…, and that was how diseases were being spread. In the mid 18th century believed in the theory of miasma at first as many of the diseases were spreading in warm climates. However, his opinions changed afterwards. Although the theory of germ disease was still a new concept, John Kearsley Mitchell and other professors influenced a great deal of what Finlay believed about microorganisms and the spread of diseases. While Carlos Finlay traveled from places to places, he would study the symptoms in the people affected caused by yellow fever and malaria. He started to realize that most of the people he examined would also have mosquito bites. Thus, he concluded that yellow fever was being spread by