Mefitis

In Roman mythology, a goddess who, according to some sources averts pestilential exhalations, and in others is seen as responsible for them. She is associated with sulphurous fumes that rise up from the ground, which were believed by the Romans to be responsible for epidemics and plagues. Sometimes identified with Albunea. Her cult was concentrated in the volcanic regions of southern and central Italy, for obvious reasons. Her main shrine was in the volcano Ampsanctus in Samnium. In Cremona her temple was kept outside the city walls, because of her association with disease. In Rome she had a temple on the Esquiline Hill.