A person who opposes the theory of disease transmission or contagion; historically, someone who rejected germ theory.
Formed from 'anticontagion' + '-ist' (one who believes or practices). Historically, anticontagionists believed diseases arose from bad air ('miasma') rather than transmitted germs.
Famous anticontagionists in the 1800s actually had respectable scientific credentials—they weren't all cranks, which shows how scientific progress requires overturning ideas held by serious, educated people!
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