How did people avoid being infected?

There were many weird ways to avoid being infected. Some of the easy ones were to just stay away from infected individuals and the infected homes. Another easy way was to avoid heating foods. It was believed that cool foods like cucumbers and spinach were safe to eat. Some ways were extremely strange... like not taking baths. CAN I SAY EWWW!?!

 There were more ways to avoid being infected. Another way was to eat and drink very little, and to avoid having sex. One of the strangest ways in my opinion is to burn sweet smelling herbs and spices. This was believed to drive away miasmas. How fruity right!?!