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Miasma

Swirling Mist of Miasma
Here's the website where I found this Miasma image

Miasma vapors (definition a) were thought to cause diseases like typhoid, cholera and the black plague until germ theory (articulated by Dr. Louis Pasteur 1864) replaced the idea near the end of the 19th century. 

mi·as·ma 

n. pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m-t)

1. A noxious atmosphere or influence: "The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma" (Louis Auchincloss).

2.

a. A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.

b. A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.

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[Greek, pollution, stain, from miainein, to pollute.]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/miasma