How the 1918 Flu Spread Across America (2017)
> In 1918, medicine had barely become modern; some scientists still believed “miasma” accounted for influenza’s spread.<p>Does anyone know where I can learn more about the "miasma" model of disease? Whenever I'm looking up old plagues / diseases / etc. etc., they bring up the "miasma" model.<p>But what is the miasma theory (or pseudo-science?) that people used to believe in? And how does it differ from our modern germ theory?<p>Ex: I know plague doctors wore airtight masks and waxxed leather to suit-up and protect themselves from the "miasma" of the plague. As an early sanitization model, it probably worked (at least, "worked" as much as modern masks work on untrained laypeople). But where did the miasma model fall short compared to germs?