| Date | -50 |
| Author | Varro |
| Contribution | Postulated that invisible animalcules caused some diseases. |
| Reference | Chase |
| Notes | M. T. Varro (116 - 27 B.C.). Date of this contribution is arbitrarily chosen within his life span. The 'minus' symbol is intended to represent B.C. (BCE). According to Dowel, Varro associated fever with marsh "insects." Other commentators, however, have noted that "insect" might, at that time, have meant any small invertebrate animal. Varro's Latin has been translated as "in swampy places minute creatures live that cannot be discerned with the eye and they enter the body through the mouth and nostrils and cause serious diseases." (Cited by Roncalli Amici, R., Vet. Parasitol. 98:3 - 30, 2001). |
| Category | Causation |
| Pathogen Class | General |
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