List of fictional diseases
Appearance
This article is a list of fictional diseases — nonexistent, named medical conditions which appear in fiction where they have a major plot or thematic importance. They may be fictional psychological disorders, magical, from mythological or fantasy settings, have evolved naturally, been engineered artificially (most often created as biological weapons, but not always), or be any illness that came forth from the (ab)use of technology.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cd/Masque_of_the_Red_Death_%28screenshot%29.jpg/360px-Masque_of_the_Red_Death_%28screenshot%29.jpg)
Items in this list are followed by a brief description of symptoms and other details.
In literature
Name | Source | Symptoms |
---|---|---|
Andromeda Strain | The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton |
A deadly, green, crystalline, extraterrestrial agent of indeterminate origin. It erodes the vessel walls of the vascular system, causing death by either triggering the body's coagulation response (resulting in the entire system clotting in a few seconds), or by cerebral hematomas (accompanied by dementia) if clotting is prevented. It evolves at a rapid rate, is spread by airborne transmission, and is extremely contagious. |
Berserker plague | Berserk (Tim Lebbon Novel) | A pathogen that creates revenants-intelligent zombies. Tested by the UK as a bioweapon, presumably to make the subject immune to bullets. The infected-"Berserkers"-can stay alive for at least ten years without food, water, or oxygen. Some may manifest psionic tendencies. It has some supernatural attributes, such as a sensitivity to silver. Transmitted by bite. |
Bloodfire | Blood Nation | A virus that gestated in wolves two thousand years ago. The first to be infected was Genghis Khan. It causes the symptoms usually associated with Vampirism; Photosensitivity and invincibility. The entire nation of Russia in infected, except for a few feral children. The virus can cause extreme mutation, for example the snakes tail present in the Khan's head scientist. |
Captain Trips | The Stand by Stephen King |
A deadly, flu-based virus. Created as a biological weapon codenamed Blue. Causes a lethally high fever and is highly contagious. So deadly because as the body fights off the disease, it mutates into different strains of influenza, making immunity next to impossible. Also called Superflu. |
Clone-Killing Nanovirus | Star Wars Republic Commando: Hard Contact (Karen Traviss Novel) | A nanovirus developed by the Confederacy of Independent Systems designed specifically to kill the clones of Jango Fett. Its creator, Ovolot Qail Uthan, is captured by Republic Commandos before her research is complete, however. In later books in the series, it is revealed (though not to any of the main characters, but to the reader through both Palpatine's and Dr. Uthan's private journals), Chancellor Palpatine secretly chooses not to completely destroy all evidence or research of the virus, but rather opts to hold onto it as a back-up plan, should the clone army ever be turned against him. |
Brainpox | the Cobra Event | A genetically-engineered recombinant virus made from the nuclear polyhedrosis virus, the rhinovirus, and smallpox. It causes nightmares, fever, chills, runny nose, encephalitis (brain swelling), and herpes-like boils in the mouth and genitals. Used as a bioterror weapon. |
Cooties[citation needed] | Various | A presumably fatal disease affecting males, leaving females mostly unaffected. The disease is known to feast on the souls of unsuspecting children (those unfamiliar with the "Cootie Lock") and incur embarrassing misfortune upon its host.[citation needed]. |
Descolada | Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card |
A quasi-conscious self-modifying organism capable of infecting any form of life."Descolada" is also the Portuguese word for "unglued". In the context of the book, this refers to the Descolada virus's effects; it breaks the link of the DNA double helix (ungluing it) and induces mutations. |
Foul-Drought | The Heir of Mistmantle by M. I. McAllister |
Disease caused from drinking poisoned water. Animals who have it will have pain, blurry sight and some will eventually die. |
Dryditch Fever | Salamandastron by Brian Jacques | |
The Gray Death | Gail Carson Levine's The Two Princesses of Bamarre | Disease created from the noxious gas from the defeated dragon Yune's stomach. It comes on with no warning and is not contagious. There are three stages of the disease. The first stage is the weakness, and it can last anywhere from a week to six months. The second stage is the sleeping, and it always lasts nine days. The last stage is fever, and it always lasts three days. At the end of the fever stage, the victim will die. The only cure is water sent down from the fairies' Mount Ziriat. The cure will only be discovered when cowards find courage and rain falls over all Bamarre. |
DX | The Lost World by Michael Crichton |
An unknown prion dubbed "DX" by scientists on Isla Sorna. It is similar to mad cow disease and was the result of feeding ground-up sheep to carnivorous dinosaurs. DX increased the mortality rate of newborn dinosaurs and is eventually fatal to adult dinosaurs. In order to combat DX, InGen scientists released animals into the wild of Isla Sorna. The virus initially infected carnivorous dinosaurs such as velociraptors and procompsognathus, which would then spread the disease to herbivores such as apatosaurus, and the apatosaur carcasses would be eaten by compys, which would then spread the disease to other carcasses, and the cycle would repeat. Ian Malcolm said at the end of the novel that, because of the imbalance of carnivores and herbivores due to DX, the dinosaurs were doomed to die out. |
Ebola Gulf A | Batman | Also known as "the Clench", due to the victims clenching their stomachs, Ebola Gulf is an evolved form of the ebola virus created by the terrorist mastermind Ra's Al Ghul after he consulted the Wheel of Plagues. |
Jason Strain | Friday the 13th: The Jason Strain by Christa Faust |
A virus created when an artificial virus was exposed to undead killer Jason Voorhees, it was originally meant to be a cure-all and age retarding super drug. Those infected by the virus gain some select powers of Jason Voorhees, including superhuman strength and the inability to feel pain, but intelligence is severely reduced. Those infected with the virus can only be killed via decapitation. A cure for the virus is developed and released into the air and the original carrier, Jason (who was not affected by the airborne cure due to unique physiology) is rid of it when a heavy dosage of the cure is injected directly into his brain. |
Life-Eater Virus | Warhammer 40,000 (novels) | The Life-eater virus is a flesh-eating disease that causes all biological matter to break down into it's component parts, releasing toxic, flammable gas that can be ignited with a single explosion. The virus eats itself when there is nothing else to attack. It is quite effective against Tyrranids. In the short-story anthology Planetkill, an updated strain goes after the soul, turning the population into zombies, created by a Techpreist inhabited by an Unclean One. |
Krytos virus | Star Wars Expanded Universe" | "The Krytos virus was a deadly and highly contagious virus that only attacked non-human species. It could spread via a number of avenues, including by water supplies and air. The virus often killed its host in less than two weeks, resulting in a painful death. |
The Red Death | The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe |
"Victims bleed from their pores before eventually dying. (See also: Scarlet Plague) |
The Ripley | Dreamcatcher by Stephen King |
An alien parasitoid macrovirus. The adult aliens resemble deformed potato beings with legs, while the younger aliens - nicknamed "shit-weasels" because they can be created in a host organism's stomach and escape by eating their host's body between the stomach and anus - are legless, smaller versions of the adult alien. Both adult and young aliens have a mouth consisting of a slit on the underside of the head that goes down the length of the worm. The lips separate to reveal hundreds of teeth that can bite through steel. |
Mycetic Spores | Warhammer 40,000 | Tyranid organisms that infect and break down aerobic organisms (creatures that need to breathe to live) into raw biomatter for collection by Ripper swarms and subsequent digestion and manipulation. There are larger strains, such as Spore Mines, which are filled with acid, smaller Mycetic Spores, or bone shrapnel, and even ones developed into drop-pods. Apparently named for the real-life fungal infection mycetoma, which causes a rash and pustules. |
Scarlet Plague | The Scarlet Plague by Jack London |
This 1912 novella, also known as the Scarlet Death, is a work of post-apocalyptic fiction treating the world after civilization has been destroyed by this fictional disease. |
Snow Crash | Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson |
A dangerous drug which is both a computer virus capable of infecting the brains of unwary hackers in the Metaverse and a mind-altering virus distributed by a network of Pentecostal churches via its infrastructure and belief system. Both forms cause glossolalia, and the computer virus form appears as a snowy pattern of pixels. |
Solanum | The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z | Solanum is a virus that is transmitted through fluidic contact, such as a bite, transplant of infected biological matter, or pressing an open wound against a zombie. Once these situations occur, it is 100% communicable. It is only contagious in humans, however it is instantly fatal to other living creatures, whose bodies then become biohazardous. There are almost no known cases of survival, with no treatment to delay onset and no cure. Rarely, people have managed to survive by an immediate emergency field amputation of the limb where contact occurred, but even this is unlikely to work. It can be a sexually transmitted disease, but only if the sexual partner is in the very early stage of infection – once reanimated, victims become infertile (and totally uninterested in sex). The virus travels to the brain and rapidly dissolves the frontal lobes, with effects akin to lobotomy. The brain changes, over 23 hours, into an organ that does not need oxygen. Tissues become toxic. The virus causes all life processes to stop, except for musculature and nervous systems. Tested as a bioweapon by Japan and the USSR with dismal results. |
Thing cells | The Thing | Triangle-pyramid viruses that makes up Thing monsters. If it enters another animal, it fuses with the host, imparting shape-shifting and unholy durability, at the cost of pyrosensitivity, and possession by the Alien. |
V-CIDS | The Immortals | An AIDS-like virus. |
Vampiris | I Am Legend by Richard Matheson |
A bacillus (rod-shaped) bacterium that causes photosensitivity, hysterical blindness near mirrors, overdevelopment of canine teeth, and production of a bulletproof adhesive. Victims feed on blood. While in the body, it is anaerobic, and causes the victim to exhibit zombie-like behavior. Outside the body, it sporulates into dust. If an infected person is cut deep enough, the bacteria turns them into powder. Can be treated, but not cured, with a pill containing a fusion inhibitor and dehydrated blood. |
Venus Particle | Tyrannosaur Canyon | An extraterrestrial infectious particle found in a lunar rock sample and within a fantastically well-preserved tyrannosaur fossil in the New Mexico desert. It is later revealed that the organism came to Earth via the Chicxulub asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs. The particle, which was named for its resemblance to the symbol of Venus and femininity, causes rapid mitosis and apparent cellular differentiation in its host. |
White Blindness | Blindness by José Saramago |
A mysterious epidemic of sudden blindness affecting virtually all humanity, leading to society's collapse. So-called because victims see nothing but a white glare. Not to be confused with the White Blindness in Watership Down which is a name the rabbits use for the real illness Myxomatosis which affects rabbits causing blindness and death. |
Plague of Insomnia | One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez |
An epidemic brought into the Buendía household and the town of Macondo by Rebeca; the adopted daughter of José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán. This plague, originally coming from the northern Indian kingdoms in La Guajira (Colombia), is identified by the symptoms of wide-open, glowing eyes like those of a cat, and the impossibility of sleeping. Those infected (in the novel consisting of the entire town of Macondo) feel no tiredness or sleepiness whatsoever and hence can work all day and night. However, as time advances, those infected begin to lose all their memories and knowledge of the world; ultimately leaving them in a state in which they have forgotten the names and uses of all things and their own identities. The plague is generally seen as one of the most prominent demonstrations of magical realism in García Márquez's literary works. |
White Disease | The White Disease by Karel Čapek |
An incurable mysterious form of leprosy, killing people older than 30. |
White Plague | The White Plague by Frank Herbert |
A genetically engineered virus that kills only women. Released only on Irish, English, and Libyan populace. |
Legacy Virus | Marvel Multiverse | A disease that targets only mutants. |
In film
Name | Source | Symptoms |
---|---|---|
Brain Cloud | Joe Versus the Volcano | The brain cloud has no symptoms—apart from quickly and painlessly killing in about six months. |
The Coma | Clive Barker's The Plague | Affects all children. Induces a 10 year coma, after which the children simultaneously wake up and desire to kill all adults. |
Closed Shell Syndrome | Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex | A type of autism caused by cyberbrain implants. |
Cyberbrain Sclerosis | Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex | Cyberbrain implant malady resembling multiple sclerosis, eventually fatal. |
"The Fever" | Cabin Fever | A flesh eating disease which causes massive hemorrhaging and tissue necrosis. Victims typically bleed directly through the skin in early stages. In later stages, tissues become soft and slough away. It is known to be transmitted through drinking contaminated water. |
Geostigma | Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children | A disease caused by Jenova's presence in the Lifestream as it rose to destroy Meteor in the ending of Final Fantasy VII. Decreases the efficiency of the body's immune system-like inner Lifestream current. Also causes exhaustion and black sores appearing on the skin. Mostly affects children due to their weaker constitutions. Healed by Aerith Gainsborough's Great Gospel healing rain. |
The Grudge | The Grudge, The Grudge II, The Grudge III | A curse caused by dying violently or miserably, bonding the soul to the immediate surroundings, thereby creating a ghost. A person killed by a ghost also gets a Grudge. |
Hemoglophagia (HGV) | Ultraviolet | Disease responsible for turning many humans into vampire-like creatures. |
The Host's Disease | The Host | The unnamed disease carried by the giant monster terrorizing South Korea. In actuality, there was no virus; the government claimed the monster was spreading a disease just to save face. |
Krippin Virus (KV) | I Am Legend | A genetically reengineered measles virus originally created as a "miracle cure" for cancer, but mutated into a lethal, highly-pathogenic strain. KV has a 90% mortality rate; less than 1% of humans are immune. Two transmission vectors for the pathogen are inhalation and infected blood, with two corresponding immunity profiles. Infected humans who did not die began exhibiting early symptoms of rabies and degenerated into a state driven by rage. A major symptom is that the adrenal glands are "permanently open", giving victims increased strength, speed and agility but also a faster metabolism. This results in increased body temperature, heart rate, and breathing speed, making those infected hyperventilate constantly. Pupils became permanently dilated and skin became hypersensitive to UV radiation, forcing infected hosts into a nocturnal life cycle. Loss of body hair is another symptom. Non-humans such as rats and dogs are also susceptible to KV. They are sensitive to blood. These infected are similar to vampires. |
Lampingtons Disease | Last Holiday | A rare neurological disease causing multiple brain tumors rapidly progressing to death within a few weeks if not treated with an exorbitantly expensive operation. The lead character is diagnosed with this disease by a faulty CAT scan machine, consequently spending her life's savings on a dream vacation. |
MacGregor's Disease | Batman & Robin | The disease that Mr. Freeze's wife Nora was suffering from and placed in cryogenic stasis for. The film also revealed that Batman's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, was also suffering from MacGregor's. Mr. Freeze successfully created the antidote for the disease, and gave some of it to Batman as an apology for thinking that Batman killed Nora (really Poison Ivy's doing). |
Motaba | Outbreak | A deadly, virulent virus from the jungles of Zaire. Early stages resemble the flu, with pink eyes, coughing and fever. In later stages, the fever rises as high as 108, and victims seize violently, break out in skin lesions and bleed internally, causing a dark rash on the skin. Motaba incubates in 24 hours and kills in 48. The virus is 100% fatal. There is an airborne strain of Motaba. There is no treatment, but a large outbreak in a small California town was stopped when antibodies were taken from a carrier. |
NAM37 | The Patriot (1998) | A highly contagious airborne virus which has been stolen from a government biological warfare laboratory. Its early symptoms include a rash, and it is quickly fatal. It is not clear in the film whether the virus was supposed to have been harvested from the wild (such as Ebola) and then grown as a weapon, or whether the laboratory first engineered it in some way. In the film, the leader of a local militia has obtained both the virus and what he believes to be a vaccine for it, and decides to start an epidemic with the virus, believing that he will be safe because he has taken the vaccine. A local doctor of Indian (Native American) ancestry fights to find a cure for it. |
Rage | 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later | Rage causes extreme aggression in a victim only seconds after being infected with the disease. The disease is easily transmissible through any bodily fluid. Because of this extreme contagiousness and very short incubation time, a crowd of hundreds could be infected by one single individual in a manner of minutes. A graphic novel based on the films purports that Rage is a recombinant strain of Ebola, though its symptoms are similar to that of rabies. Animal testing was being performed on the disease but one animal was released by activists unaware of the virus. The infection soon spread to eliminate the entire population of Britain save a few lucky individuals who managed to survive. Infected organisms die out in a few months, succumbing to starvation, since they do not actually eat their victims. |
Reaper | Doomsday | Reaper causes effects similar to black plague. It appears in Scotland in year 2008 and kills most of it inhabitants. Scotland is put under quarantine. Some decades later, Reaper reappears in London. A cure is found several days later, but it is unknown whether or not it will be given to the population. |
SP-43 | Derailed (2002) | SP-43 is a modified form of smallpox (variola) that has an extremely short incubation period. Its development is part of the backstory, which is not completely clear, but given the fact that it appears to have been stolen in Slovakia and is being transported to Munich by a NATO agent, it appears to have been developed by the Slovak government or some other Eastern Block country during the Cold War. |
St. Mary's | V for Vendetta | A biological weapon engineered and released by the Norsefire party as a means of clandestinely gaining control over their own country. |
T-Virus | Resident Evil movies | An artificial virus created by Umbrella. When a human is infected by it, the virus will destroy all cells, killing the host. Among two and four hours, all cells will be revitalized. But the virus will only activate one brain function: the hypothalamus, where feeding is controlled. The host becomes a violent mindless cannibal, and can infect other people by biting. Because of this effect, the virus was called the "cannibal disease". |
X-5 Virus | Beavis and Butthead Do America | Genetically engineered disease created by the U.S. Military. Causes Ebola-like symptoms and eventual death. Apparently lethal and quick enough to "wipe out five states in five days". |
(unknown) | Transporter 2 | Created by scientists working for an assassin named Gianni, this unnamed virus kills everyone it infects within 48 hours. Whoever the infected person breathes on contracts the virus, and whoever they breathes on contracts it, etc. The Colombian drug cartel hires Gianni and his minions to use the virus to assassinate Jefferson Billings, the director of the National Drug Control Policy and all of the attendees of a major anti-drug conference. An antidote was also created, just in case, but was retrieved by the Billing Family's personal driver, Frank Martin. |
In music
Name | Source | Symptoms |
---|---|---|
Island Fever | Beach Boys - Summer in Paradise - Island Fever - 1992 | Apparently, as common as the cold, the cure is presumed as unknown, and the known symptoms are, that it prevents the afflicted from dancing, or sleeping |
In television
Name | Source | Symptoms |
---|---|---|
Bliss Virus | Doctor Who: Gridlock | Appeared around 5 billion years into the future on New Earth. It began when New Earthlings developed a new mood-drug called Bliss. The world became addicted to it and, in Novice Hame's words, "A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything died. Even the virus in the end. It killed the world in seven minutes flat." |
Blue Shadow Virus | Star Wars: The Clone Wars | An extinct virus that recreated by Separatist scientist Dr. Nuvo Vindi as a weapon against the Republic. Can only be cured with the root of the reeksa plant. |
Bone-itis | Futurama | In the Future Stock episode, That Guy suffers from bone-itis and cryogenically freezes himself in order to sustain him until a cure is found. Upon waking up, however, he neglects to get it cured, and dies suddenly as his bones contort horrifically. Not to be confused with osteitis. |
Bonerplasia | Saturday Night Live | In the October 4, 2008 episode, Bonerplasia is a fictional condition which is allegedly a kind of chronic priapism. A man (played by Jason Sudeikis) used it as a fake explanation for why he constantly got erections around a woman, Amber (played by Anne Hathaway), he was secretly attracted to though claiming to be gay. However, she honestly believed him, because she "read the Bonerplasia article on Wikipedia", only for the man to then reveal "I actually wrote that article". |
Bowden's Malady | Firefly | A degenerative disease that affects the bone and muscle, the only known treatment being a drug called Pescaline D. The disease is considered a "quirk" of planetary terraforming – the result of underground air mixing up with a mine's ore processors. |
Dave's Syndrome | Black Books | A condition which is known to affect Manny, it is triggered by being exposed to a temperature of at least 88°F (31°C). While the exact effects of the disease are not described, a scene at the end of the episode shows the results - Manny is driven to madness and totally ransacks the area outside the shop, before using a hot water bottle as a loincloth, grabbing a flaming torch and painting "EAT ME" on his stomach. Bernard dismisses it as "attention-seeking rubbish" throughout the episode. |
Desperation Disease | Eureka 7 (anime) | A disease that strikes randomly and has no known vector of contagion. Individuals gradually become detached from the world until they are completely catatonic. The name of the disease doesn't come from the victims' state, who seem to be communing with something metaphysical, but rather, from their families who despair of trying to wake them. |
Dark Gundam Cells | G Gundam (anime) | Nanomachines from the Devil Gundam (Dark Gundam in North American dub) infect living organisms and undergo mitosis, allowing the Devil Gundam to control the victim. The victim will gain super-strength and self-recovery abilities and if inside a Mobile Fighter, will spread the cells to the Mobile Fighter and give it the abilities of the Devil Gundam, often mutating the Mobile Fighter into a stronger robot. If the cells have not reached the brain, the victim can be cured. |
Drafa Plague | Babylon 5 | Neutralizes chemicals in the synaptic gap, thus inhibiting nerve signals from the brain to the rest of the body. Without clear direction from the brain as a result of the signals being blocked, the organs lose their ability to function correctly. For those that can be affected, the disease is 100% contagious, and if left untreated 100% terminal. |
Ecola | Spaceballs: The Animated Series | A barf-borne disease made from Ecoli and Ebola |
Electrogonnorhea | Futurama | An STD humans can contract from robots. Called the "Noisy Killer". |
European flu | Survivors (2008 TV series) | A strain of flu based on the real Spanish flu but killing 99.9% of mankind. |
Genie Flu | Genie in the House | A disease of Genies which causes them to change colours, become invisible and have squeaky voices. |
Hate Plague | Transformers | Bacterial spore of unknown origin transmitted by touch. Induces extreme paranoia and aggression in the infected, causing them to strike out against anyone or anything in an increasingly maddening desire to destroy. Symptoms include a deep reddish glow emanating from the infected. The only curative is intense logic and wisdom, which presumably counters the extreme irrationality the disease causes in its victims. First appearing during the Autobot-Decepticon wars (which necessitated the second resurrection of Optimus Prime), a relatively milder strain is seen again during the events of Beast Machines; Megatron triggers a pre-planted virus in Silverbolt, infecting him and the rest of the Maximals. The strain is cured, again, by intense logic and wisdom. |
The Ick | SpongeBob SquarePants | More of a fungus than a disease, the Ick is a green moss-like form that spreads over the body, resulting in welts that shoot puss. Though it may not be fatal, it can be eliminated by feeding it to a bottom-feeder. In the episode "The Ick", the victims of the Ick are cured when Gary the Snail eats it off of the person's body. |
Lackadaisy-Cathro | Ed, Edd n Eddy | It makes a person sick by and weaken the victim. It also causes those with that disease to burst into tears and gives gets them confused as well. This was showen in an Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "A Case of Ed." |
Lazar's Disease | Doctor Who: Terminus | A leprosy-like disease. |
Lurgy (The Dreaded Lurgi) | The Goon Show | A disease that causes anyone who catches it to say nothing but 'Eeee-yakkaboo!'. |
Macrovirus | Star Trek: Voyager | An airborne pathogen-by-proxy that infects endothermic humanoids with a virus, causing the host to get lethargic and churn out more macroviruses until he/she/it wastes away and dies. When some of the bugs invaded Voyager, the EMH was able to synthesize a cure. |
Monoorangeosis | Wizards of Waverly Place | A disease that seemingly does not allow one to experience the color orange in any of the five senses. It is mentioned by Max (Who obviously made it up) in the episode Art Teacher |
Moon Fever | H2O,Just add Water | A Mermaid disease that affects them when they see a full moon. This illness makes them catatonic and draws them to water like a magnet. |
Petrifold Regression | Doctor Who: New Earth | A condition that causes the sufferer to turn to stone (similar to petrification). Unknown origins. |
Poliosis | Jeff Dunham | In "Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special", Jeff accidentally said "poliosis" when he meant "Polio". Earlier, he and his dummy, "Achmed the Dead Terrorist", made a joke about scoliosis. |
Proxyglossariasis | Duckman | A condition which causes someone, while speaking, to occasionally use the next word in the dictionary instead of the one they wanted (season 2 episode - Research and Destroy) |
Spectrox Toxaemia | Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani | A fatal condition caused by touching the raw form of Spectrox, a residue from the saliva of bats found on the planet Androzani Minor, that contained a chemical similar to nitrogen mustard. The lifespan of the sufferer is then reduced to between two and three days; symptoms include a rash and/or cramp, followed by spasms, paralysis and finally Thermal Death Point. The only known cure was the milk of the Queen Bats. |
The Phage | Star Trek: Voyager | A necrotizing plague that affects members of the Vidiian species. Organ transplants are required for survival. Klingon DNA seems to be highly resistant to the phage. It was cured by the Think Tank. |
Psi-2000 Virus | Star Trek | A mutated form of water that spreads by touch which causes its victims to act in a way similar to being drunk. However, the effects do not wear off and eventually will cause victims to make dangerous decisions. |
Re-vitiligo | The Boondocks | A disease that turns a white person's skin black over time. Uncle Ruckus claims to have it, though every flashback in which he appears, features him as black as he's in 2005-2008. He regards Michael Jackson as a "lucky bastard", as his skin turned from black to white. |
Shanti Virus | Heroes | A virus that only affects individuals with superhuman abilities or powers, deactivating those powers and slowly killing the infected. At least one strain exists which affects humans without superhuman powers, which is simply lethal. |
The Sudds | Spongebob Squarepants | The sudds is an illness that only sponges can catch, which makes them sneeze out bubbles constantly. It is essentially a common cold. The sudds can be cured by washing the sponge and using it to clean various things, as shown in the episode "The Sudds." |
Super Diarrhea | American Dad! | Francine experienced this disease while on a good-will mission to India. |
Torsonic Polarity Syndrome (TPS) | South Park | A genetic condition which causes humans to be born with a set of buttocks over their facial organs. TPS is seen in South Park Ep.510 "How To Eat With Your Butt" |
SUPERAIDS | "South Park" | An AIDS like disease that kills faster, but is still transmitted the same way. |
In video games
Name | Source | Symptoms |
---|---|---|
Ancient virus | Resident Evil series | A rare viral strain found in queen ant genes. It was discovered by Alexia Ashford, while she was studying ants. When combined with Mother Virus (or Progenitor Virus) it creates the powerful T-Veronica virus. Probably the control power of it is due the Ancient virus. |
Angel Toxicosis | Tales of Symphonia | A disease that cannot be transmitted, and affects only those with an unmounted Cruxis Crystal. Causes victim to eventually lose ability to taste, sleep, cry, feel pain, and talk. Also increases the victim's hearing, strength and sight abilities, as well as eliminating the need to eat and sleep. In early beginnings it allows the victim to gain crystal-like wings and fly until the disease is destroyed. The final stage of this diseases causes the victim to give up his/her heart and memory, and ultimately their life. The disease lasts for an unknown time, those afflicted are slowly "given" the symptoms via blessings of a person with a mounted Cruxis Crystal. A major example is Collette, one of the 8 protagonists of the game.} |
Anthrax Beta/Gamma | Command & Conquer: Generals and Zero Hour | Biowarfare agents concocted by the GLA. Unlike normal Anthrax, these agents kill in seconds, not days, and are powerful enough to corrode metal and ceramic armor. |
Apathy Syndrome | Persona-Trinity Soul, Persona 3 (video game)- | Technically not a real disease, Apathy Syndrome is caused when a human's soul is "destroyed" by a Shadow. The affected person becomes unresponsive and "apathetic" to everything around them like the name suggests. |
Chimera Virus | Resistance: Fall of Man | It mutates the infected into the enemies of the series |
Corprus | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | Corprus causes incredible mutations in humanoids, but it is an almost non-communicable disease. People infected with blight are often sent to a special institution called the Corprusarium, which was made for researching corprus. Corprus is caused by the volcanic ash that emanates from Red Mountain, but, as a positive side effect, grants 100% disease immunity. The only known antidote is proven to destroy corprus, but ends up killing the victim as well. However, the player is able to take the antidote without any adverse effects, presumably because he is the reincarnation of the demi-god Nerevar. |
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 2 seconds and can infect any person in the immediate area. Referred to WoW players as "the Plague", "Hakkar's SARS" or "WoW AIDS" for a major outbreak of the virtual plague in the game due to a design oversight. |
Creeping Derangea | Advance Wars: Days of Ruin | An artificial virus that initially infects those under the age of 20. The outbreak is attributed to the post-Apocalyptic setting in which the game is set. The Virus is revealed as a failed Bio-Weapon by IDS, created to test the extent of IDS technology. The virus mutates into a strain that can infect older hosts over time. Causes flowers to grow inside a person and break out of the skin. A beautiful, albeit excruciatingly painful, way to die. Its scientific name is Endoflorescens terribilis. It is also known as The Creeper and the Green Thumb. |
Diathronitis | Larn | Afflicts daughter of player character; serves as primary motivation for gameplay. |
Doll Syndrome | .hack//G.U. | A mysterious medical condition in which a person falls into a completely unresponsive state. Doll Syndrome is in fact a physical side effect to an infection by AIDA. Salvador Aihara tries to do an undercover investigation regarding Doll Syndrome in especially young children for his show "Online Jack". |
Forced Evolutionary Virus | Fallout | Originally known as the Pan-Immunity Viron Project, FEV, along with radiation, is responsible for many mutations in the wastelands. The most visible of these are the super mutants, former humans granted incredible strength and endurance as result of being infected. Exposure to the virus is also known to be fatal in many cases. FEV serves as a major plot element in both Fallout and Fallout 2. |
FoxDie | Metal Gear Solid | FoxDie is a virus responsible for killing people with certain genetic markers via cardiac arrest. FoxDie is given to protagonist Solid Snake by Dr. Naomi Hunter, only it is engineered to go off at an indeterminate time. FoxDie was also the cause of death of Liquid Snake, Decoy Octopus (impersonating DARPA chief Donald Anderson), and the Armstech President. |
G-Virus | Resident Evil 2 | A mutagenic pathogen which causes the host to become a big, constantly evolving, practically unstoppable killing machine, with exceedingly high attack power and immense vitality, in addition to the ability to regenerate and mutate so quickly the carrier virtually loses its mortality. The purified virus can be injected directly into the host, or a mutated host can implant a small larvae, called a G-embryo into another host. The latter mode of transmission is most successful when the host and the new victim are genetically similar. The virus would later merge with the T-Virus, creating an extremely dangerous, electromagnetic-capable variant called T/G Virus |
Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin (GUILT) | Trauma Center: Under the Knife | A series of eight pathogens created by the medical-terrorist group Delphi. During ingame sequences where the player operates on patients, GUILT diseases are normally shown as a pseudo-sentient core that attacks the patient from within, using lacerations, tumors and other ailments. Individual strains are named after Greek days of the week (Kyriaki, Deftera, Triti, Tetarti, Pempti, Paraskevi, Savato), the only exception being the eighth strain, called "Bliss". |
Gray Death | Deus Ex | A global plague engineered using nanotechnology within a Universal Constructor by Majestic-12, the Gray Death virus is actually a hybrid (cyborganic) disease of biological and mechanical structures. It is based on the adverse and ultimately lethal effects of nanotechnology on an unmodified human body. Named the Gray Death because of the gray patches of discolored scar tissue that cover its victims' skins, if and when the disease is cured. Symptoms include the aforementioned discoloration of the skin, coughing, physical pain and death. |
Hyper-evolutionary virus | StarCraft | The Hyper-evolutionary virus is a retrovirus produced by Zerg Queens. It is used to mutate "lesser" creatures into zerg warrior breeds. Only a small percent of humanity is fully compatible, who retain personality, intelligence, and psionics. Others mutate into living bombs, utterly dominated by the Overmind. It has a re-animation side-effect. It is transmissible through fluid transfer only, much like Solanum. |
Incuritis | Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney | A rare, but lethal disease, curable only through the use of a medicine made from the Borginian Cocoon. The cure is very difficult to make, and if made incorrectly, it is a deadly poison, and thus the exportation of such a cocoon is illegal. The Chief Justice's son is afflicted with the disease. |
Las Plagas | Resident Evil 4 | 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. |
Madoba-2 | Whiteout | Virus related to Ebola, causes the victim to receive fever and eventually bleed to death from all body openings. |
NE_Alpha Parasite | Resident Evil | The NE-Alpha Parasite has an immunity to the T-virus, and is used to protect the higher brain functions of B.O.W.'s |
Porphyric Hemophilia | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | Causes vampirism after an incubation period of three days. If the player is infected, they can go through a quest to cure the disease, however it is not necessary to be cured to complete the quest. |
Progenitor Virus | Resident Evil | In the back-story of the series, the Progenitor virus is the primary virus created by the Umbrella Corporation, a mutagen based on ebola. Successor viruses include the T-Virus, the G-Virus, and T-Veronica Virus. |
Rust Lung | Gears of War 2 | When the Lightmass bomb that killed the multitude of Locust monsters in the 1st game subliminated the liquid element "Imulsion", the gas seeped into the atmosphere of planet Sera, resulting into 'Rust Lung', a disease that spreads quickly and deadly. |
Scurge | Scurge: Hive | A parasite that can infect biological, technological, or coherent energy systems. It takes about one minute to overwhelm the special filters designed to ward off its infection. |
The Plague | Warcraft III | The Plague is responsible for the entire Undead race. It can re-animate dead creatures with a reasonable degree of sentience, and keeps the undead creature together even after it's flesh has rotted away completely, similar to Necromancy. However, the creature is usually dominated by the undead command structure, but they can escape from the tyranny of undeath. It also causes the soil beneath and around Undead structures to change into a substance known as Blight, which is poisonus to most plants. |
T-Virus | Resident Evil | A virus that causes dementia and cellular necrosis. It can easily mutate into other strains, some of which have mutagenic effects on the host. In insects or amphibians, the resulting mutation often involves increased aggressiveness, increased size, and (almost always) the development of poisonous traits. In mammals, the results include aggressiveness, physiological changes of varying degrees, and an extremely increased evolutionary rate. Variants include the NE-T virus, T-G Virus, the T-JCCC203 (used for pharmaceutical, but killed two people) and much other variants. |
Technocyte Virus | Dark Sector | The metabolism of victims are increased and the surface of their skin hardens and forms a metallic exterior. The infection continues to mutate the host, driving them insane from the intense pain. The infected then become wildly aggressive and unpredictable, attacking anyone that is not infected on sight. The disease can be spread by physical contact and can affect animals as well as humans. |
Tiberium poisoning | Command & Conquer | Tiberium crystals start to grow on a person's skin. These skin crystals eventually force their way through the persons vital organs, killing them. If the infestation is in a certain proportion, the victim mutates into a living bag of rotten skin and organs, called a visceroid. |
Wailing Death | Neverwinter Nights | A bubonic-like plague that infects almost the entire city of Neverwinter. Thought to be just a natural plague, it is later discovered that it was magically created and unleashed upon the city. |
Yellow Death | 1213 Episodes 1 to 3 | A strain of virus that affects cloned children on the Tessa Life Orbital Space Station. Most children just die after extreme pain and facial lesions, then rise up as mindless "zombies". There are several examples of mutations caused when the virus infects children. Prisoner 0916 for example can alter his skeletal system, making extra limbs, shooting darts, and creating huge spikes. One of the other prisoner's IQ raises exponentially as his body deteriorates. |
(unknown) | Madworld | A disease created by the Organizers to force innocent people to compete in the bloodsport Deathwatch for an antidote. |
See also
- List of fictional medicines and drugs
- List of fictional toxins
- The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases Jeff VanderMeer & Mark Roberts (ed). ISBN 0553383396
Further reading
- Disease in Fiction. Its place in current literature Nestor Tirard, 1886.
- Vital Signs Medical Realism in Nineteenth-Century Fiction Lawrence Rothfield, 1992. ASIN B000J0QZSC
- Les malades imaginés: Diseases in fiction René Krémer. Journal: Acta Cardiologica, 2003.
- No Cure for the Future: Disease and Medicine in Science Fiction and Fantasy Gary Westfahl & George Slusser, 2002. ISBN 0313317070
- Nineteenth-Century Narratives of Contagion Allan Conrad Christensen, 2005. ISBN 041536048X