Marcus Terentius Varro
The Roman statesman Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) wrote, in his "Rerum rusticarum libri III" (Three Books on Agriculture, 36 BC): "Precautions must also be taken in the neighborhood of swamps […] because there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and there cause serious diseases."