List of fictional diseases and disorders

{{Short description|none}} {{Use American English|date=February 2024}} <!--Items in this list are followed by a brief description of symptoms and other details--> {{Incomplete list|date=September 2025}} [[File:Zombies NightoftheLivingDead.jpg|alt=Horde of zombies from ''Night of the Living Dead''|thumb|Zombification is a fictional disease which turns humans into mindless cannibals known as zombies.]] Diseases, disorders, infections, and pathogens have appeared in fiction as part of a major plot or thematic importance.{{Sfn|Stableford|2006|p=365}}

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==In multiple media== {| class="wikitable sortable" !width=110pt|Name !width=140pt|Source !class=unsortable|Description !class=unsortable|Ref. |- |Cooties |Children's games |Cooties was a common term to refer to head lice. In the United States children use the term to refer to an invisible germ, bug, or microscopic monster, transferred by skin-to-skin contact, usually by a member of the opposite sex. |<ref>{{Multiref|{{Harvnb|Merriam-Webster}}|{{Harvnb|Samuelson|1980|p=200}}}}</ref> |- |Hanahaki disease |Fan fiction and fan art |A fictional illness in which a person suffering from unrequited or suppressed love begins to cough up flower petals, with the condition worsening the longer the love remains unreturned. |<ref>{{cite web |last=Hale-Stern |first=Kaila |date=1 September 2021 |title=What Is Hanahaki Disease, Fandom's Favorite Fictional Ailment? |url=https://www.themarysue.com/what-is-hanahaki-disease/ |access-date=30 May 2025 |website=The Mary Sue}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Penha |first=Elisa |date=6 March 2024 |title=In Sickness and In Health: Memories from the Time of Hanahaki Disease in Fanfiction |url=https://actavictoriana.ca/culture/in-sickness-and-in-health-memories-from-the-time-of-hanahaki-disease-in-fanfiction/ |access-date=30 May 2025 |website=Acta Victoriana}}</ref> |- |Ligma |Internet memes and jokes |An ambiguous fictional disease described as fatal. The term is used as a set up to a joke due to its phonetic similarity to the words "lick my", with the punchline being "ligma balls", "ligma dick", or other variations. |<ref>{{Multiref|{{Harvnb|Katzowitz|2018}}|{{Harvnb|Hernandez|2018}}}}</ref> |- |Lycanthropy |Various |A contagious curse or disease which transforms people into mutant human-wolf hybrid monsters known as werewolves. In many stories, werewolves can infect and turn other people into werewolves through bites and scratches. |<ref>{{Multiref|{{Harvnb|Elridge|2025b}}|{{Harvnb|Sartin|2019|pp=43}}}}</ref> |- |Vampirism |Various |A contagious curse or disease which transforms people into (usually undead) monsters known as vampires, which feed on the blood of normal humans and other living creatures. In many stories, vampires can infect and turn other people into vampires, usually through bite wounds or by injecting vampire blood into their body. |<ref>{{Multiref|{{Harvnb|Elridge|2025a}}|{{Harvnb|Sartin|2019|pp=42-43}}}}</ref> |- |Zombification |Various |A contagious curse or disease which transforms people into (usually undead) monsters known as zombies, which feed on the flesh of normal humans and other living creatures. In many stories, zombies can infect and turn other people into zombies by biting them. |<ref>{{Multiref|{{Harvnb|Elridge|2025c}}|{{Harvnb|Sartin|2019|pp=44}}}}</ref> |}

==In particular media== <!-- PLEASE NOTE: Only additions of nonexistent, named medical conditions that appear in fiction and are themselves the subject of a Wikipedia article are welcome, if unsure ask on the talk page first--> <!-- Please do wikilink to the relevant *medical* concepts --> {| class="wikitable sortable" !width=110pt|Name !width=140pt|Source !class=unsortable|Description !class=unsortable|Ref. |- |The Black Breath |J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth |An affliction contracted by "excessive proximity" to a Nazgûl, seems to be a "spiritual malady" combined with "fear, confusion, reduced levels of consciousness, hypothermia, weakness and death". |<ref name="Urquart 2014">{{cite journal |last=Urquart |first=Jennifer |title='The House of his Spirit Crumbles.' A medical consideration of Faramir's condition on his return from the retreat from Osgiliath, in The Lord of the Rings |journal=Mallorn |date=2014 |issue=55 Winter 2014 |pages=14–17 |url=https://journals.tolkiensociety.org/mallorn/article/download/50/44}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Ford | first1=Judy Ann | last2=Reid | first2=Robin Anne | title=Councils and Kings: Aragorn's Journey Towards Kingship in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings | journal=Tolkien Studies | volume=6 | issue=1 | date=2009 | issn=1547-3163 | doi=10.1353/tks.0.0036 | pages=75–76 | url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/266266 | access-date=2025-05-14| url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>Hartley, Gregory. “A Wind from the West: The Role of the Holy Spirit in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth.” Christianity and Literature, vol. 62, no. 1, 2012, pp. 95–120. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/44315248 JSTOR]. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.</ref> |- |Corrupted blood |''World of Warcraft'' |Initially contracted from fighting Hakkar, the god of blood, in the dungeon of Zul'Gurub. Highly infectious, with an incubation period of two seconds and can infect any person in the immediate area. |{{Sfn|Phelps|Lukosch|2020}} |- |Las plagas |''Resident Evil'' series |A parasitic organism which can infect a variety of hosts, including humans. It has the ability to control its host's behavior, inducing a hive-like mentality among the infected and extreme hostility towards uninfected individuals. The infected retain most of the characteristics of humans such as fine motor skills as seen through their use of simple weapons such as scythes and axes, and more complicated weapons such as chainsaws and chainguns. They are seen to obey queen parasites, much like ants. |{{Sfn|Fawcett|McGreevy|2019|pp=90-92}} |- |Legacy Virus |Marvel Comics |A disease that targets only mutants, causing genetic and biological degradation and eventual death; shortly before death, the virus' effects cause a violent, uncontrolled flare-up of the victim's superhuman abilities. |{{Sfn|Much|2024|p=399}} |- |<span style="display:none">Phage</span>The phage |''Star Trek: Voyager'' |A necrotizing plague that affects members of the Vidiian species. Organ transplants are required for survival. |<ref>{{Multiref|{{Harvnb|Benitez|2023|pp=207-208}}|{{Harvnb|Gonzalez|2015|p=172}}}}</ref> |- |The Red Death |"The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe |A disease resembling an epidemic plague. Represents death's inevitability, even to the rich who try to avoid it. |<ref name="roppolo">{{cite book|last=Roppolo |first=Joseph Patrick |editor-last=Regan |editor-first=Robert |chapter=Meaning and 'The Masque of the Red Death'|title=Poe: A Collection of Critical Essays|url=https://archive.org/details/poecollectionofc00rega |location= Englewood Cliffs, NJ|publisher= Prentice-Hall, Inc.|date= 1967|pages=134–144}}</ref><ref>Engber, Daniel. "The Weird Science of Edgar Allan Poe." Atlantic Monthly, vol. 328, no. 1, July 2021, pp. 84–87. , [http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=150905977&site=eds-live&scope=site EBSCOhost]</ref><ref>Almahameed, Atef Adel, et al. “Death Portrayals in Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’: A Transtextual Study in Relation to the Holy Qur’an and Arabic Literary Heritage.” Advances in Language and Literary Studies, vol. 9, no. 5, Oct. 2018, pp. 84–91. [http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1199031&site=eds-live&scope=site EBSCOhost].</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Cook | first=Jonathan A. | title=Poe and the Apocalyptic Sublime | journal=Religion and the Arts | publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH | volume=23 | issue=5 | date=2019-12-10 | issn=1079-9265 | doi=10.1163/15685292-02305002 | pages=489–515}}</ref><ref>Del Guercio, Gerardo. “Fear and Symbolic Imagery in Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death.’” Critical Insights: Paranoia, Fear & Alienation, Dec. 2016, pp. 71–83. [http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=123240632&site=eds-live&scope=site EBSCOhost]</ref> |- |Techno-organic virus |Marvel Comics |A virus that transforms living tissue into techno-organic material, which resembles both machinery and living tissue. |}

==References== === Citations === {{reflist}}

=== Bibliography === {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite book |last=Benitez |first=Siobhan |editor1-last=Brown |editor1-first=Shaun C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1L4IEQAAQBAJ |title=Theology and Star Trek |editor2-last=Hackney |editor2-first=Amanda MacInnis |chapter=Seven Deadly Sins in the Delta Quadrant |date=2023-05-22 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-9787-0712-2 |pages=203–216 |language=en}} * {{Cite EBO |title=vampire |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/vampire |access-date=May 14, 2025 |last=Elridge |first=Alison |date=March 13, 2025a}} * {{Cite EBO |title=werewolf |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/werewolf |access-date=May 14, 2025 |last=Elridge |first=Alison |date=March 14, 2025b}} * {{Cite EBO |title=zombie |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/zombie-fictional-creature |access-date=May 14, 2025 |last=Elridge |first=Alison |date=April 27, 2025c}} * {{Cite book |chapter=Resident Evil and Infectious Fear |last1=Fawcett |first1=Christina |last2=McGreevy |first2=Alan |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/10.4324/9781315179490-7/resident-evil-infectious-fear-christina-fawcett-alan-mcgreevy |title=The Playful Undead and Video Games: Critical Analyses of Zombies and Gameplay |pages=85–98 |date=2019-07-17 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-17949-0 |editor-last=Webley |editor-first=Stephen J. |edition=1 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315179490 |editor-last2=Zackariasson |editor-first2=Peter}} * {{Cite book |last=Gonzalez |first=George A. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1057/9781137546326 |title=The Politics of Star Trek: Justice, War, and the Future |date=2015 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |isbn=978-1-349-57755-2 |location=New York |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137546326}} * {{Cite web |last=Hernandez |first=Patricia |date=2018-07-23 |title=After making up a Twitch death hoax, the Internet can't stop joking about 'Ligma' |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/23/17602822/ligma-ninja-twitch-death-hoax |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021081504/https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/23/17602822/ligma-ninja-twitch-death-hoax |archive-date=2023-10-21 |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=The Verge |language=en}} * {{Cite web |last=Katzowitz |first=Josh |date=2018-07-23 |title=Fortnite star Ninja at the center of a death hoax involving a fake disease called Ligma |url=https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/ninja-what-is-ligma/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122203625/https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/ninja-what-is-ligma/ |archive-date=2022-11-22 |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US}} * {{Cite MW|cootie|access-date=May 14, 2025|3=include_author}} * {{Cite book |last=Much |first=Josefa |chapter=Social-Distancing-Champions, die Angst vor dem Unbekannten und die Hoffnung auf Heilung: Die Inszenierung von Pandemie im X-Men-Universum |date=2024-12-31 |title=Superspreader - Popkultur und mediale Diskurse im Angesicht der Pandemie |pages=397–416 |editor-last=Görgen |editor-first=Arno |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783839471975-027/html |access-date=2025-05-14 |publisher=transcript Verlag |doi=10.1515/9783839471975-027 |isbn=978-3-8394-7197-5 |editor2-last=Eichinger |editor2-first=Tobias |editor3-last=Pfister |editor3-first=Eugen}} * {{Cite web |last1=Phelps |first1=Andrew M. |last2=Lukosch |first2=Heide |date=2020-05-06 |title=Online plagues, protein folding and spotting fake news: what games can teach us during the coronavirus pandemic |url=https://theconversation.com/online-plagues-protein-folding-and-spotting-fake-news-what-games-can-teach-us-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-137490 |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}} * {{Cite journal |last=Samuelson |first=Sue |title=The Cooties Complex |date=July 1980 |journal=Western Folklore |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=198–210 |publisher=Western States Folklore Society |doi=10.2307/1499801 |jstor=1499801}} * {{Cite journal |last=Sartin |first=Jeffrey S. |date=June 2019 |title=Contagious Horror: Infectious Themes in Fiction and Film |journal=Clinical Medicine & Research |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1–2 |pages=41–46 |doi=10.3121/cmr.2019.1432 |issn=1539-4182 |pmc=6546279 |pmid=31160479}} * {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Pathology |pages=363–366 |last=Stableford |first=Brian M. |encyclopedia=Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-97460-8 |language=en}} * {{Cite web |last=Zachary |first=Brandon |date=2021-07-05 |title=Cable: Why the X-Force Leader NEEDS the Techno-Organic Virus |url=https://www.cbr.com/cable-needs-techno-organic-virus/ |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=CBR |language=en}} {{Refend}}

==Further reading== * {{Cite book |last=Christensen |first=Allan Conrad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MmCgmAEACAAJ |title=Nineteenth-century Narratives of Contagion: 'our Feverish Contact' |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-36048-7 |language=en}} * {{Cite journal |last=Krémer |first=René |date=2003-08-01 |title=Les malades imaginés: Diseases in fiction |url=https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2005293&journal_code=AC |journal=Acta Cardiologica |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=349–354 |doi=10.2143/ac.58.4.2005293|pmid=12948041 |url-access=subscription }} * {{Cite book |editor-last=Roberts |editor-first=Mark |editor2-last=VanderMeer |editor2-first=Jeff |title=The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases |date=2005-04-26 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-553-38339-3 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Rothfield |first=Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YyFmAEACAAJ |title=Vital Signs: Medical Realism in Nineteenth-Century Fiction |date=1995 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-02954-2 |language=en}} * {{Cite magazine |last=Tirard |first=Nestor |date=October 1886 |title=Disease in Fiction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxCkI-wJfEcC&pg=PA579 |magazine=The Nineteenth Century |pages=579–591 |volume=20 |issue=116}} * {{Cite book |last1=Westfahl |first1=Gary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WThaAAAAMAAJ |title=No Cure for the Future: Disease and Medicine in Science Fiction and Fantasy |last2=Slusser |first2=George |date=2002-09-30 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-313-31707-1 |language=en}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fictional diseases}} Category:Fictional diseases and disorders Fictional Diseases Category:Science fiction themes