In 1848, Josiah C. Nott suggested that yellow fever was spread by insects such as moths or mosquitoes, basing his ideas on the pattern of transmission of the disease.Josiah C. Nott (1848) "Yellow Fever contrasted with Bilious Fever – Reasons for believing it a disease sui generis – Its mode of Propagation – Remote Cause – Probable insect or animalcular origin", The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, "4" : 563–601. Carlos Finlay, a Cuban-Spanish doctor and scientist, proposed in 1881 that yellow fever might be transmitted by previously infected mosquitoes rather than by direct contact from person to person, as had long been believed.Carlos Juan Finlay (presented: August 14, 1881; published: 1882) "El mosquito hipoteticamente considerado como agente de transmission de la fiebre amarilla" () (The mosquito hypothetically considered as an agent in the transmission of yellow fever) Anales de la Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de la Habana, 18 : 147–169. Available online in English at: Charles Finlay, with Rudolph Matas, translator (1881) "The mosquito hypothetically considered as an agent in the transmission of yellow fever poison," New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 9 : 601–616. Delta Omega.org Since the losses from yellow fever in the Spanish–American War in the 1890s were extremely high, U.S. Army doctors began research experiments with a team led by Walter Reed, and composed of doctors James Carroll, Aristides Agramonte, and Jesse William Lazear. They successfully proved Finlay's "mosquito hypothesis". Yellow fever was the first virus shown to be transmitted by mosquitoes. The physician William Gorgas applied these insights and eradicated yellow fever from Havana. He also campaigned against yellow fever during the construction of the Panama Canal. A previous effort of canal building by the French had failed in part due to mortality from the high incidence of yellow fever and malaria, which killed many workers.
In 1848, Josiah C. Nott suggested that yellow fever was spread by insects such as moths or mosquitoes, basing his ideas on the pattern of transmission of the disease.Josiah C. Nott (1848) "Yellow Fever contrasted with Bilious Fever – Reasons for believing it a disease! sui generis – Its mode of Propagation – Remote Cause – Probable insect or animalcular origin", The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, "4" : 563–601. Carlos Finlay, a Cuban-Spanish doctor and scientist, proposed in 1881 that yellow fever might be transmitted by previously infected mosquitoes rather than by direct contact from person to person, as had long been believed.Carlos Juan Finlay (presented: August 14, 1881; published: 1882) "El mosquito hipoteticamente considerado como agente de transmission de la fiebre amarilla" () (The mosquito hypothetically considered as an agent in the transmission of yellow fever) Anales de la Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de la Habana, 18 : 147–169. Available online in English at: Charles Finlay, with Rudolph Matas, translator (1881) "The mosquito hypothetically considered as an agent in the transmission of yellow fever poison," New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 9 : 601–616. Delta Omega.org Since the losses from yellow fever in the Spanish–American War in the 1890s were extremely high, U.S. Army doctors began research experiments with a team led by Walter Reed, and composed of doctors James Carroll, Aristides Agramonte, and Jesse William Lazear. They successfully proved Finlay's "mosquito hypothesis". Yellow fever was the first virus shown to be transmitted by mosquitoes. The physician William Gorgas applied these insights and eradicated yellow fever from Havana. He also campaigned against yellow fever during the construction of the Panama Canal. A previous effort of canal building by the French had failed in part due to mortality from the high incidence of yellow fever and malaria, which killed many workers.