Miasma theory

[9]In the 1st century BC, the Roman architectural writer Vitruvius described the potential effects of miasma (Latin nebula) from fetid swamplands when visiting a city: For when the morning breezes blow toward the town at sunrise, if they bring with them mist from marshes and, mingled with the mist, the poisonous breath of creatures of the marshes to be wafted into the bodies of the inhabitants, they will make the site unhealthy.

[10]The miasmatic theory of disease remained popular in the Middle Ages and a sense of effluvia contributed to Robert Boyle's Suspicions about the Hidden Realities of the Air.

They thought that insects' waste polluted the air, the fog, and the water, and the virgin forest harbored a great environment for miasma to occur.

In descriptions by ancient travelers, soldiers, or local officials (most of them are men of letters) of the phenomenon of miasma, fog, haze, dust, gas, or poison geological gassing were always mentioned.

During the Eastern Jin, large numbers of northern people moved south, and miasma was then recognized by men of letters and nobility.

As a result, the government became concerned about the severe cases and the causes of miasma by sending doctors to the areas of epidemic to research the disease and heal the patients.

The environment changed rapidly, and after the 19th century, western science and medical knowledge were introduced into China, and people knew how to distinguish and deal with the disease.

[18] The terrifying miasma diseases in the southern regions of China made it the primary location for relegating officials and sending criminals to exile since the Qin-Han dynasty.

And lovingly gather my bones, on the banks of that plague-stricken river.The prevalent belief and predominant fear of the southern region with its "poisonous air and gases" is evident in historical documents.

Hence, development in the damp and sultry south was much slower than in the north, where the dynasties' political power resided for much of early Chinese history.

[22][better source needed] Based on zymotic theory, people believed vapors called miasmata (singular: miasma) rose from the soil and spread diseases.

To assume the method of propagation by touch, whether by the person or of infected articles, and to overlook that by the corruption of the air, is at once to increase the real danger, from exposure to noxious effluvia, and to divert attention from the true means of remedy and prevention.Florence Nightingale: The idea of "contagion", as explaining the spread of disease, appears to have been adopted at a time when, from the neglect of sanitary arrangements, epidemics attacked whole masses of people, and when men had ceased to consider that nature had any laws for her guidance.

Beginning with the poets and historians, the word finally made its way into scientific nomenclature, where it has remained ever since [...] a satisfactory explanation for pestilence and an adequate excuse for non-exertion to prevent its recurrence.The current germ theory accounts for disease proliferation by both direct and indirect physical contact.

A leading sanitary reformer, London's Edwin Chadwick, asserted that "all smell is disease", and maintained that a fundamental change in the structure of sanitation systems was needed to combat increasing urban mortality rates.

Chadwick saw the problem of cholera and typhoid epidemics as being directly related to urbanization, and he proposed that new, independent sewerage systems should be connected to homes.

Chadwick supported his proposal with reports from the London Statistical Society which showed dramatic increases in both morbidity and mortality rates since the beginning of urbanization in the early 19th century.

However, it was inconsistent with the findings arising from microbiology and bacteriology in the later 19th century, which eventually led to the adoption of the germ theory of disease, although consensus was not reached immediately.

[citation needed] Even though eventually disproved by the understanding of bacteria and the discovery of viruses, the miasma theory helped establish the connection between poor sanitation and disease.

The latter of those enabled the instituting of investigations into the health and sanitary regulations of any town or place, upon the petition of residents or as a result of death rates exceeding the norm.

Encouraged by the Great Stink, Parliament sanctioned Bazalgette to design and construct a comprehensive system of sewers, which intercepted London's sewage and diverted it away from its water supply.

[2] Years later, the influence of those sanitary reforms on Britain was described by Richard Rogers:[28] London was the first city to create a complex civic administration which could coordinate modern urban services, from public transport to housing, clean water to education.

Throughout the 19th century, concern about public health and sanitation, along with the influence of the miasma theory, were reasons for the advocacy of the then-controversial practice of cremation.

[34] Because of the miasmatic theory's predominance among Italian scientists, the discovery in the same year by Filippo Pacini of the bacillus that caused the disease was completely ignored.

It was not until 1876 that Robert Koch proved that the bacterium Bacillus anthracis caused anthrax,[35] which brought a definitive end to miasma theory.

The work of John Snow is notable for helping to make the connection between cholera and typhoid epidemics and contaminated water sources, which contributed to the eventual demise of miasma theory.

Snow convinced the local government to remove the pump handle, which resulted in a marked decrease in cases of cholera in the area.

In 1857, Snow submitted a paper to the British Medical Journal which attributed high numbers of cholera cases to water sources that were contaminated with human waste.

Though his research supported his hypothesis that contaminated water, not foul air, was the source of cholera epidemics, a review committee concluded that Snow's findings were not significant enough to warrant change, and they were summarily dismissed.

[25] In 1855, John Snow made a testimony against the Amendment to the "Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act" that regularized air pollution of some industries.

He discovered the pathology of the puerperal fever[39] and the pyogenic vibrio in the blood, and suggested using boric acid to kill these microorganisms before and after confinement.