|
|
Article: Jack & Jill's Health Heroes.(how William C. Gorgas prevented malaria-carrying mosquitos from transmitting the disease to workers who built the Panama Canal)
- Article from:
- Jack & Jill
- Article date:
- December 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Explorers dreamed for centuries of linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a canal through the narrow Isthmus of Panama.
In 1881 the French found it too tough. The dense, tropical rainforest was killing the workers!
Yellow fever and malaria claimed many of the attempt's 20,000 victims. The French effort failed after just 19 miles, but at a cost of $287 million.
When the U.S. tackled the canal in 1904, Army Doctor William C. Gorgas knew he had to keep the workers healthy.
Gorgas had beaten yellow fever in Cuba by battling Aedes aegypti (AY-dees ee-JIP-tee), the mosquito that carried the disease.
But malaria was spread by ...