If you asked a physician during the 18th century, I imagine he would say it does.  Back in the early days of somewhat more modern medicine (my favorite era), and well before we had any real concept of what was causing the diseases that we saw, and still sometimes see, on a daily basis, many physicians and scientists drew the conclusion that that which smells bad to you, must also be bad for you.  This theory, termed the miasmatic theory of disease, is to me, one of the most fascinating, unbelievable, yet also logical components of the history of medicine.  You’re likely thinking, “I might agree with fascinating and unbelievable, but logical?”  Absolutely!  Let’s think about it, and put it into a context which might be more relevant to your average person in modern era.  If you go into a gym locker room that is never cleaned and smells just terrible, isn’t it your primary instinct to either get out of there immediately, or at least spend as little time in there as possible?  Yes, of course you now know that the bad smells might signify microbes, bacteria, and potential infection, however, what if you had no idea that those things existed?  You spend some time in the room, likely you are fine, but then another several thousand people come in and out of there over the course of a year.  It is likely that at least a few of those individuals will get sick or receive a nasty infection.  Your average 18th century physician, having no real knowledge of bacteria, viruses, or fungi, might decide that since all the people in question went into this locker room, and in turn, since noxious fumes are instinctively avoided by humans, that the two put together must therefore lead us to disease.  Just one example of this is, of course, never enough on which to base a rather grand conjecture such as the miasmatic theory of disease, however, if we compound our one example with other such instances, then we clarify the steps which many physicians likely took to get to the point of associating noxious smells with dangerous illness.

Here is another example from the same era regarding yellow fever, an infection caused by the yellow fever virus.  Many explorers, sailors, and workers who ventured into swamplands often times found themselves or their party with a most heinous illness.  Yellow fever consists of general flu-like symptoms (headache, fever, nausea, vomiting) which often subside after some days, however, in some instances the disease can progress to a more advanced state.  This “toxic phase” is often comprised of spiking fevers, jaundice (yellowing of the skin, thus yellow fever) due to damage of the liver by the infectious organism, and finally bleeding from the eyes and anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract (i.e. from mouth to anus).  This internal bleeding can cause the vomit to turn black, a product of the blood interacting with the acids in our stomach.  This infectious disease is, as I said earlier, caused by the aptly named, yellow fever virus, whose vector is the mosquito, Aedes aegypti.  Now, it follows that since these mosquitoes can carry this virus, and that swamplands and marshes are the breeding grounds of mosquitoes, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that the chances of getting yellow fever increase considerably when we spend time in such landscapes.  However, to the physician 250 years ago, with no knowledge of vectors or viruses, a very different conclusion might take form.  Since swamps are rife with noxious fumes, compounded with the fact that many individuals who went into the swamps came out sick, we might assume it was the fumes themselves that carried the disease.  If we extrapolate this pattern to world at large, we find very similar “relationships.”  For example, many captains aboard sailing vessels felt it of utmost importance to clear the ship of noxious smells by cleaning rigorously and  often, with the result being lower rates of disease compared to ships with less meticulous cleaning regimens.  Again, we know that cleaning the ship also likely reduced the amount of harmful bacteria aboard, however wouldn’t that also cause the smell to improve since fumes from bacteria can often be the source of the bad smell?  Scurvy was thought to be caused by the sea air, cholera was though to be caused by the spread of poisonous fumes, and so on.

This theory permeated the thinking of healthcare workers for much of the age of sail, often to the detriment of the sailors.  Many suffered from scurvy, beriberi, and other such illnesses, without the proper means or understanding for a cure.  Instead, the physicians, though logically so, often focused on decreasing the amount of noxious fumes for the person instead of seeking to discover what might actually cure the illness through what we might term “rudimentary experimentation.”  That is, trying out different medications or dietary changes until one proves useful in treating the disease.  This was how the discovery of vitamin C as a cure for scurvy came to fruition.  More on that topic in future postings!
*Images courtesy of Wikipedia