A high rate of yellow fever infection among the builders of the Panama Canal inspired which physician for the cure for the disease?

A high rate of yellow fever infection among the builders of the Panama Canal inspired which physician for the cure for the disease?

• A. Walter Reed
• B. Jonas Salk
• C. Louis Pasteur
• D. Alexander Fleming

Answer: (A)

Recognizing how a disease spreads and using that knowledge to stop it is what this question is about. Yellow fever was a major threat to workers building the Panama Canal, and Walter Reed led the investigation that showed the disease is transmitted by the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. This realization shifted the focus from treating sick people to preventing infections through mosquito control and public health measures, a crucial step toward managing yellow fever and enabling the canal project to proceed. The other names are associated with different breakthroughs—Salk with polio, Pasteur with germ theory and vaccines, Fleming with penicillin—so Reed is the one tied to yellow fever and its control.

Recognizing how a disease spreads and using that knowledge to stop it is what this question is about. Yellow fever was a major threat to workers building the Panama Canal, and Walter Reed led the investigation that showed the disease is transmitted by the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. This realization shifted the focus from treating sick people to preventing infections through mosquito control and public health measures, a crucial step toward managing yellow fever and enabling the canal project to proceed. The other names are associated with different breakthroughs—Salk with polio, Pasteur with germ theory and vaccines, Fleming with penicillin—so Reed is the one tied to yellow fever and its control.