22,000 workers died during the French effort to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama in the 1880s. Most of these workers died after contracting yellow fever or malaria. The French were forced to abandon the project in 1889 after spending $287 million. In 1904, the United States took control of the territory and began the process of building the canal. Many American workers caught yellow fever, and the American-led project faced many of the same problems as the French. Dr. William Gorgas led the eradication of mosquitoes in the Panama Canal Zone, which led to the eradication of yellow fever and a dramatic reduction in deaths from malaria. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Before the germ theory of disease became widely accepted, the miasma theory was widely believed to be the cause of epidemics. “Night air” or toxic fumes from swamps were believed to cause diseases like yellow fever and malaria. As early as 1848, in an article published in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, Dr. Josiah Nott expressed his belief that insects could be the vector through which diseases such as malaria and yellow fever are transmitted. In 1881, Cuban physician Carlos Finley identified a specific species of mosquito that was spreading yellow fever in Cuba. Without concrete evidence, these reports have been mostly ignored by the medical community. In 1901, Havana experienced an outbreak of yellow fever while the city was under American occupation following the Spanish-American War of 1898. Dr. Walter Reed, head of the American medical corps in Cuba, began adhering to the idea that mosquitoes can be the vector of yellow fever. With the help of Army Colonel Dr. William Gorgas, they implemented a plan to eradicate mosquitoes in Havana. In just eight months, yellow fever cases fell by 95 percent. The United States took over the Panama Canal project in 1904. A few months into the project, yellow fever began to take its toll on the American workforce. Many native workers had acquired immunity to yellow fever and other tropical diseases during childhood, but white American workers were not immune, and nearly 75 percent of American workers returned home. American workers wrote letters home warning of yellow fever and imploring friends and family to stay home, regardless of poor job prospects in the United States. Hundreds of men died each year from yellow fever, which paralyzed construction. Dr. William Gorgas was assigned as the physician to oversee the project. With his successful mosquito eradication protocol in Havana, Gorgas was convinced that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes and developed a systematic plan to eradicate mosquitoes in the Panama Canal Zone. Gorgas proposed a comprehensive plan to eradicate mosquitoes in the Canal Zone, which would require $1 million in funding. The Panama Canal Commission, which was responsible for approving all plans in the Canal Zone, approved only $50,000 to be used by Gorgas for his mosquito eradication efforts. Most members of the Panama Canal Commission, including chief engineer John Walker, thought the mosquito vector theory was hogwash,..