ABSTRACT
This chapter recounts past efforts to tackle vector-borne infections, by reviewing the decision made in 1947 by the Pan American Health Organization to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito species throughout the entire continental Americas, as a means of eradicating urban yellow fever. Though vaccination was also employed, the policy contrasted with the reliance on mass vaccination in Francophone Africa. Why, given the existence of an excellent vaccine against yellow fever, was the eradication of a mosquito species chosen as the main focus in the Americas? And with what effect? Was complete eradication of a mosquito species feasible, ethical or necessary? Are there any lessons to be drawn from this history? The chapter ends by bringing the issue of mosquito eradication/control back to our present worries about the return and spread of the Aedes aegypti mosquito in the Americas, Africa and Asia, in the epidemiologically difficult conditions of contemporary urban life. Is mass vaccination the path to follow? Or is vector control still a necessary part of disease control?
