Evolutionary Genetics and Arthropod-borne Disease: The Yellow Fever Mosquito

On August 27, 1900, Dr. James Carroll of the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission stationed in Cuba, allowed himself to be bitten by a female Aedes aegypti (L.) (then called Culex fasciatus (F.)) mosquito (fig.1).Twelve days before, this particular mosquito was known to have engorged itself with blood from several patients with severe cases of yellow fever. Carroll was testing a theory advocated by Carlos Finlay that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes. Yellow fever was a major health problem at the time. The 1898 New Orleans epidemic produced almost fourteen thousand cases with nearly four thousand deaths. In the same period, during the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Army suffered more casualties from yellow fever than from enemy action. In view of the deadly nature of the disease and the havoc it was then causing in the New World, Carroll's actions, although heroic, might be considered reckless. In a few days Carroll experienced a severe attack of yellow fever. Fortunately, he recovered from the illness.