Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, Dec 3.-Workers from the health sector of Cuba and the region celebrate today the Day of Latin American Medicine, in tribute to the birth of the Cuban scientist Carlos Juan Finlay y Barrés (1833-1915), discoverer of the yellow fever transmitter agent.
Dr. Finlay, the deepest and most intense researcher of this disease, concluded that between an infected subject and a healthy one, there was an independent agent who transmitted it, and was able to identify the Aedes aegypti as the biological vector, highlights the website of the Pan American Health Organization.
His victory wanted to be scathed by the United States to favor American Walter Reed, who presided, in 1901, the fourth U.S. commission that came to Cuba, precisely, to prove in situ that yellow fever had a bacterial origin and that Finlay was therefore wrong.
The Cuban doctor had been in that country in February 1881 to present his work The mosquito considered hypothetically as an agent of the transmission of yellow fever, and had been ignored.
However, the opposition to recognizing Reed as the real discoverer became evident when France decided to grant Finlay in 1911 the official order of the Legion of Honor, and England the Mary Kinsley medal, awarded in the world only to scientists Mauson, Ross and the genius Koch, discoverer of the tuberculosis bacyl.
Likewise, the XIV International Congress of History of Medicine, held in Rome in 1954, ratified the Cuban as the sole discoverer of the agent who transmits yellow fever and the application of his doctrine in the sanitation of the tropics.
Two years later, this same appointment, held in Spain, agreed to the execution of an intense campaign so that textbooks, encyclopedic dictionaries and means of dissemination did not attribute to other people the glory that, in their own right, belonged to him.
Finlay was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Medicine, but the United States always opposed it. In the 1950s, the historical truth was finally clarified and Latin American Medicine Day was established in recognition of Cuban.
On 25 May 1981, Unesco instituted the Carlos J International Prize for the first time. Finlay, to recognize advances in Microbiology, and included the sage in his journal as one of the six leading microbiologists in world history.
To commemorate this date, a Day of Tribute to the Health Worker is being held in Cuba, which begins on November 22 with the Day of the pharmacist.
The day before, at the headquarters of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), professionals were recognized who grew up with plenty of signs of consecration and commitment, during the electroenergetic contingency that the country faced and in the recovery stage after the passage of the hurricanes Oscar and Rafael, highlights the Minsap website.
This Monday we commemorated the Day of Latin American Medicine at the MINSAPCuba, where we recognized outstanding workers from our center, for their dedication in such complex times, with multiplied challenges.Thank you all for always accompanying the defense of life," Minister José Ángel Portal wrote on his X account. (Text and photo: PL)
