The XIX Century Century

1800-1899

1802
Small pox vaccine introduced in Cuba and Venezuela by Dr. Tomas Romay.

1803
Epidemic of small pox in Cuba.

1804
Burials in churches are prohibited in Cuba. Bishop Estrada organized and built cemetery in Havana.

1805
Vaccination Board is established in Havana.

1807
Anatomical dissection course is given in Havana despite the involvement of the Dominican friars in the University of Havana.

1814
Black water fever and malaria are described in Havana.

1815
The use of obstetrical forceps is advertised in Havana.

1816
Epidemic of small pox in Cuba.

1818
Epidemic of small pox in Cuba
Le Riverand studies and discusses the diseases of Cuba.

1819
Manikins are used in Havana for medical education.

1822
Montes de Oca performs surgical operations successfully in Cuba.
Lithotomy is performed in Cuba.
Surgery for strangulated abdominal wall hernia is performed successfully in Cuba.

1823
First surgical clinic is established and staffed in Cuba.
First surgical courses are taught in Cuba.
Handbook for midwives is published in Havana.

1827
An insane asylum is established and opened in Cuba.
First essay on mental illnesses is published in Cuba.
A maternity home is opened in Havana.
Small pox epidemic in Cuba.

1828
Small pox epidemic in Cuba.

1830
First dental book is published in Cuba.

1831
Dysentery is reported in Havana.

1832
Board of Health is established in Havana.

1834
The “Protomedicato” is terminated in Cuba. Dr. Tomás Romay organized the curriculum and clinical program at the University of Havana Medical School. Romay established both service and teaching clinics.

1836
Epidemic of small pox in Brazil and Cuba.
Chemical laboratory is opened in Havana.

1839
Faculty chair is opened at the University of Havana.
Epidemic of small pox in Cuba.
First rhinoplasty is performed in Cuba.

1840
The “Repertorio Médico-Habanero” appears in Cuba. It was founded and edited by Dr. Nicolás J. Gutiérrez.

1841
Further advances in surgical practice are registered in Cuba.
Dr. Nicolás Gutiérrez performs successfully lithotomy operation and femoral ligation in Havana.

1842
Anthrax is reported prevalent in Cuba.
Scholarly paper on Anthrax is published in Cuba.
Filariasis cases are reported in Cuba.
Epidemic of scarlet fever is reported in Cuba.

1843
Epidemic of small pox in Cuba.

1844
Slave uprising in Cuba.

1845
The use of chloroform and ether anesthesia is described from Cuba.

1846
Anatomical dissection of cadavers is again formally re-established in Havana for instruction and study of health and disease.

1848
Dysentery is studied and described by Le Riverand in Cuba.

1849
Book on diseases of children is published in Cuba.
Doctor Cowley writes on vital statistics in Cuba.
Census is taken.

1854
Trachoma is described as being highly prevalent in Cuba.
First Thyroidectomy is performed in Cuba.

1858
Epidemic of small pox in Cuba.

1861
Epidemic of small pox in Cuba.
Census is taken.
Establishment of the “Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana” through the leadership and perseverance of Dr. Nicolás J Gutiérrez. Dr. Gutiérrez became its first president.

1865
Beriberi is reported in Cuba.
Ciguatera fish poisoning is described and reported in Cuba.

1868
Cuban declaration of independence from Spain by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes at : La Demajagua” farm near Yara in the Eastern side of Cuba. The independentists free their slaves and abolish slavery in the territories under their control.

1869
Description of clinical findings and clinical course of hypothyroidism is presented in the Havana Academy of Sciences by Dr. Carlos. J. Finlay writing from Matanzas.

1870
Epidemic of small pox in Cuba and Brazil.

1871
Epidemic of diphtheria in Cuba.
Public water filtration is introduced in Havana.
Medical school freshmen (first year class) are accused by the Spanish Volunteers in Havana of desecrating the tumb of a Spanish journalist. The entire class is apprehended. A court martial type of trial is carried out and eight of the medical students are sentenced to death by firing squad. The remainder of the class, except foe a handful whose liberty was negotiated by the Spanish military and the Consul of the United States are imprisoned.

1872
Glanders is reported in Cuba and Brazil.
The medical students who had been jailed on 27th November 1871 are freed in May 1872 but conditions in Havana are still belligerent against the medical students who had become symbols of Cuban nationalism. All remaining students are then deported under the cover of dawn and leave Havana harbor in a Spanish frigate. Most of the students were deported to Spain. Those who had fallen ill in jail with contagious diseases such as tuberculosis were deported to Ceuta, a city in the Northwest tip of Africa under Spanish rule.

1875
Dental surgery courses begin in Cuba.
The medical publication “Crónica Clínico-Quirúrgica” is published and begins circulating in Cuba.

1876
Paquelin’s cautery is introduced in Cuba.

1877
First surgical ovariectomy is performed in Cuba.
First historical museum is opened in Cuba.

1878
The “Guerra de los 10 Años” ends. Open hostilities between the Spanish crown and the Cuban insurgents (independentists) come to a temporary end, a truce, at “La Paz del Zanjón.” Not all leaders of the independence movement accept the terms, however. Antonio Maceo declares his “Protesta de Baraguá” and continues the fight for a short time.

1879
Poliomyelitis is observed and described in Cuba.
First physiological laboratory is equipped, organized, and staffed in Cuba.
Small pox becomes endemic in Cuba.
The Society of Clinical Studies (Sociedad de Estudios Clínicos) is inaugurated in Havana.

1880
The original observations and postulates of Lister and Semmelweis are disseminated. Antisepsis is introduced in Cuba and in Venezuela.
 

1881
Dr. Carreras Saavedra performs first successful ovariectomy in Cuba.
Dr. Carlos J. Finaly describes filariasis in Cuba.
Dr. Carlos J. Finlay describes observations on the transmission of yellow fever from the sick person to the healthy one, and the clinical course of subclinical infections with yellow fever provoked by the inoculation of a postulated yellow fever agent through the bite of a particular mosquito.

Dr. Finlay proposes in the Academy of Sciences of Havana that yellow fever is transmitted through the action of a vector, the Aedes Aegypti known at the time as the Culex mosquito.

1882
Bacteriology is introduced in Cuba.

1883
Gastrostomy is performed in Cuba.

1884
First hysterectomy is performed in Cuba.

1885
First tracheostomy is performed in Cuba.
First blood transfusion is performed in Cuba.

1886
Epidemic of scarlet fever in Cuba.

1887
Pamphlet with historical facts, testimonials and documentation entitled “ El 27 de Noviembre de 1871” is published in Havana by one of the surviving students who completed his medical education in Spain after being deported there, Dr. Fermín Valdés Domínguez.

1888
The microbe responsible for Glanders is isolated in Cuba by Dr. Dávalos.

1889
The microbe responsible for Anthrax is isolated in Cuba and a vaccine is prepared in Mexico.

1890
First successful nephrectomy is performed in Cuba.
First symphisiotomy is performed in Cuba.

1893
The Havana Academy Of Sciences inaugurates its second president, Dr. Antonio María de Gordon y Acosta.

1894
Dr. Carlos J. Finlay reports on his inoculations of 104 subjects utilizing infected mosquitoes of the proper genus and species. The inoculations were performed by allowing the subjects to be bitten by mosquitoes who had previously been allowed to feed with the blood of yellow fever patients at a specific interval in the clinical course of the acute illness. Those inoculated were protected from community-acquired yellow fever.
Dr. Finlay discusses clear implications of his thesis regarding the control of yellow fever

1895
Open rebellion against the Spanish rule resumes under the leadership of José Martí who has organized the Cuban Revolutionary Party in the United States. Martí ;ands in Eastern Cuba and dies in battle on 19th May.
Dispensary for children is opened in Matanzas by Gordon and Dr. Domingo Madam.

1896
The Spanish build about an 80 barracks military hospital in a hill near Havana, “La Loma del Príncipe” They name it the Hospital Militar Alfonso XIII.
Antonio Maceo launches the invasion of the island from East to West and dies before returning to Eastern Cuba on December 7th.

1897
The Havana Academy of Sciences inaugurates its third president, Dr. Juan Santos Hernández.
The Spanish bring into Cuba a renowned war hero, General Valeriano Weyler. The latter orders socially draconian measures in order to cut off aid from the Cuban mambises (freedom fighters). The Spanish order, under Weyler, that all farmers leave their land and move to the cities. Large numbers of displaced persons roam the cities without proper housing, food or assistance.
Under the leadership of Gordon, fifteen dispensaries are opened to provide care for the displaced children.
First successful appendectomy is performed in Cuba.
Epidemic of small pox.

1898
Dr. Domingo Madam reports on the deleterious effects of the War of Cuban Independence on the health of the most vulnerable Cubans. Describes peripheral neuropathy and amblyopia secondary to retrobulbar neuritis in the “Crónica Médico Quirúrgica” of Havana.
The United States enters the Cuban war and defeat the Spanish in Santiago de Cuba through the assistance of Cuban mambises such as General Calixto García.
Spanish rule over Cuba ends. The First American intervention begins under the command of Leonard Wood, a physician, named governor of the island.

1899
The Spanish Military Hospital Alfonso XIII is renamed by the American interventors, “Municipal Hospital Number One.”

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