Maybe. Certainly TB was a major killer at that time: https://nonprofitupdate.info/2010/10/21/10-leading-causes-of-death-in-1850-and-2000-2/ https://nonprofitup

Maybe. Certainly TB was a major killer at that time: https://nonprofitupdate.info/2010/10/21/10-leading-causes-of-death-in-1850-and-2000-2/ https://nonprofitupdate.info/2010/10/21/10-leading-causes-of... But the idea of 'bad air' (miasmic theory)' though Informed by microbe theory, had its roots in Hippocratic thinking which was derived from the observation that swampy areas were generally unhealthy to live. This was attributed to their bad smell and not the preponderance of mosquitoes (malaria). Fyi... The same miasmic theory gave rise to toilets that were designed to flush away bad smalls with water.