From infections to Infectious Diseases

Abstract

The epidemics of infectious diseases observed during the modern era were explained —and accepted— by the so-called Miasma theory. This view held that patients were overwhelmed by foul-smelling vapors resulting from the decomposition of organic matter —malodorous liquids that mixed in the air with gases emanating from abandoned, putrefying corpses. This theory is believed to have been first proposed by Sydenham and Lancisi in the 17^th century, in a social environment characterized by a complete lack of environmental, residential, occupational, and personal hygiene.