title: From miasmas to germs: a historical approach to theories of infectious disease transmission.
abstract: From miasma to germ theory we trace the evolution of conceptions in infectious disease transmission. Starting from the unproved theories of contagiousness we move on to miasma theory, contagion theory and spontaneous generation theory up to the revolutionary germ theory of disease transmission.
authors.affiliation: History of Medicine Department, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karamanou
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Panayiotakopoulos
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tsoucalas
authors.forename: Antonis A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kousoulis
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Androutsos
mesh_terms: D001432:Bacteriology / Q000266:history*; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000266:history*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000266:history*; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000266:history*; D005060:Europe; D005602:France; D060755:Germ Theory of Disease / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D006115:Greece; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008829:Microbiology / Q000266:history