List of eponymous diseases

An eponymous disease is a disease, disorder, condition, or syndrome named after a person, usually the physician or other health care professional who first identified the disease; less commonly, a patient who had the disease; rarely, a fictional character who exhibited signs of the disease; and, in some few instances, after an actor or the subject of a literary allusion, because characteristics associated with them were suggestive of symptoms observed in a particular disorder.

Naming systems

Eponyms are a longstanding tradition in Western science and medicine. Being awarded an eponym is regarded as an honor: "Eponymity, not anonymity, is the standard."^[1] The scientific and medical communities regard it as bad form to attempt to eponymise oneself.^[2]

Ideally, to discuss something, it should have a name. When medicine lacked diagnostic tools to investigate and definitively pinpoint the underlying causes of many diseases, assigning an eponym afforded physicians a concise label for a symptom cluster versus cataloguing the multiple systemic features that characterized the patient.

Some diseases are named for the person, most often a physician, but occasionally another health care professional, who first described the condition—typically by publishing an article in a respected medical journal. Less frequently, an eponymous disease is named after a patient, examples being Lou Gehrig disease, Hartnup disease, and Mortimer disease. In one instance, Machado–Joseph disease, the eponym is derived from the surnames of two families in which the condition was initially described. Examples also exist of eponyms named for fictional persons who displayed characteristics attributed to the syndrome; these include Miss Havisham syndrome, named for a Dickens character, and Plyushkin syndrome, named for a Gogol character (the two also happen to be alternative names for the same symptom complex). At least two eponymous disorders follow none of the foregoing conventions: Fregoli delusion draws its name from an actor whose character shifts mimicked the type of delusion it now describes; Munchausen syndrome derives from a literary allusion to Baron von Munchausen, whose personal habits were suggestive of the symptom cluster associated with it.

Disease naming structures which reference place names (such as Bornholm disease, Lyme disease, and Ebola virus disease) are properly termed toponymic, although an NLM/NIH online publication described them as eponymic.^[3] Diseases named for animals with which they are associated, usually as a vector, are properly styled as zoonymic; cat scratch fever and monkeypox are examples. Those named for association with a particular occupation or trade, examples of which include nun's knee, tennis elbow, and mad hatter's disease, are properly described as occupational diseases.

In May 2015, the World Health Organization, in collaboration with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), released a statement on the Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases "with the aim to minimize unnecessary negative impact of disease names on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare, and avoid causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups."^[4] These guidelines emerged in response to backlash against people and places, based on the vernacular names of infectious diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome, and the 2009 swine flu pandemic.^[5] These naming conventions are not intended to replace the International Classification of Diseases, but rather, are guidelines for scientists, national authorities, the national and international media and other stakeholders who may be the first to discuss a disease publicly.

Punctuation

In 1975, the Canadian National Institutes of Health held a conference that discussed the naming of diseases and conditions. This was reported in The Lancet where the conclusion was summarized as: "The possessive use of an eponym should be discontinued, since the author neither had nor owned the disorder."^[6] Medical journals, dictionaries and style guides remain divided on this issue. European journals tend towards continued use of the possessive, while US journals are largely discontinuing its use.^[7] The trend in possessive usage varies between countries, journals, and diseases.^[8]

The problem is, in fact, that the possessive case was given its misleading name for historical reasons and that now even educated people, if they are not linguists, often make incorrect assumptions and decisions based on this misleading name. Nevertheless, no native speakers would accept the ungrammatical "men department" as a possible way of saying "men's department" nor claim that this "possessive" and obligatory apostrophe in any way imply that men possess the department.

This case was called the genitive until the 18th century and (like the genitive case in other languages) in fact expresses much more than possession. For example, in the expressions "the school's headmaster", "the men's department", and "tomorrow's weather", the school does not own/possess the headmaster, men don't own/possess the department, and tomorrow does not/will not own the weather. Most disagreements about the use of possessive forms of nouns and of the apostrophe are due to the erroneous opinion that a term should not use an apostrophe if it does not express possession.^[9]

In the words of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage:^[10]

The argument is a case of fooling oneself with one's own terminology. After the 18th-century grammarians began to refer to the genitive case as the possessive case, grammarians and other commentators got it into their heads that the only use of the case was to show possession.... Simply changing the name of the genitive does not change or eliminate any of its multiple functions.

This dictionary also cites a study^[11] that found that only 40% of the possessive forms were used to indicate actual possession.^[12]

Autoeponym

Associating an individual's name with a disease merely based on describing it confers only an eponymic; the individual must have been either affected by the disease or have died from it for the name to be termed autoeponymic. Thus, an 'autoeponym' is a medical condition named in honor of: a physician or other health care professional who was affected by or died as a result of the disease which he had described or identified; or, a patient, who was not a health care professional, but suffered from or died as a result of the disease.^[13] Autoeponyms may use either the possessive or non-possessive form, with the preference to use the non-possessive form for a disease named for a physician or health care professional who first described it and the possessive form in cases of a disease named for a patient (commonly, but not always, the first patient) in whom the particular disease was identified.^[14] Autoeponyms listed in this entry conform to those conventions with regard to the possessive and non-possessive forms.

Examples of autoeponyms include:

Rickettsiosis: in 1906, Howard Taylor Ricketts discovered that the bacteria that causes Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is carried by a tick. He injected himself with the pathogen. Ricketts died in 1909 while investigating typhus (Rickettsia prowazakii) in Mexico City.^[15]
Thomsen's disease: an autosomal dominant myotonia of voluntary muscles described by Julius Thomsen about himself and his family members.^[16]
Carrion disease: Peruvian medical student Daniel Alcides Carrión inoculated himself with Bartonella bacilliformis in 1885 to prove the link to this disease, characterized by "Oroya fever." He is now regarded as a national hero.
Lou Gehrig's disease: although Gehrig, a New York Yankees player of the early twentieth century, was not the first patient described as having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the association of such a prominent individual with the then little-known disease resulted in his name becoming eponymous with it.

Eponyms and trends

The current trend is away from the use of eponymous disease names and towards a medical name that describes either the cause or primary signs.^[17] Reasons for this include:

A national or ethnic bias attaches to the eponym chosen;
Credit should have gone to a different person;
An eponym may be applied to different diseases, which creates confusion;
Several eponyms refer to one disease (e.g., amyloid degeneration is variously called Abercrombie disease, Abercrombie syndrome, and Virchow syndrome);
An eponym proves invalid (e.g., Laurence–Moon–Bardet–Biedl syndrome, in which findings in the patients of Laurence and Moon were later found to differ from those of Bardet and Biedl).
An eponym honors an individual who has been otherwise discredited (e.g., Wegener's Granulomatosis is named for Friedrich Wegener, a Nazi physician). It was renamed to granulomatosis with polyangiitis when Dr. Wegener's Nazi ties were discovered.
Its referent varies by country (e.g., sideropenic dysphagia is Plummer–Vinson syndrome in the US and Australia, Patterson–Kelly syndrome in the UK, and Waldenstrom–Kjellberg syndrome in Scandinavia).

Arguments for maintaining eponyms include:^{[citation needed]}

The eponym may be shorter and more memorable than the medical name (the latter requiring abbreviation to its acronym);
The medical name proves to be incorrect;
The syndrome may have more than one cause, yet it remains useful to consider it as a whole.
It continues to respect a person who may otherwise be forgotten.

The usage of the genitive apostrophe in disease eponyms has followed different trends. While it remains common for some diseases, it has dwindled for others.^[18]

Alphabetical list

Explanation of listing sequence

As described above, multiple eponyms can exist for the same disease. In these instances, each is listed individually (except as described below), followed by an in-line parenthetical entry beginning 'aka' ('also known as') that lists all alternative eponyms. This facilitates use of the list for a reader who knows a particular disease only by one of its eponyms, without the necessity of cross-linking entries.

It sometimes happens that an alternative eponym, if listed separately, would immediately alphabetically precede or succeed another eponymous entry for the same disease. There are three conventions that have been applied to these instances:

1. No separate entry appears for the alternative eponym. It is listed only in the parenthetical 'aka' entry (e.g., Aarskog syndrome appears only as a parenthetical entry to Aarskog–Scott syndrome).

2. If eponymous names subsequent to the first are sequenced differently or the eponym is differentiated by another term (e.g., disease versus syndrome), alphabetical sequence dictates which is the linked version versus which is listed as the alternative (e.g., Abderhalden–Kaufmann–Lignac is the linked entry and Abderhalden–Lignac–Kaufmann is the parenthetical alternative entry).

3. If the number of names included in two or more eponyms varies, the linked entry is the one which includes the most individual surnames (e.g., Alpers–Huttenlocher syndrome is the linked entry for the disease also known as Alpers disease or Alpers syndrome).

J

K

Kahler's disease – Otto Kahler
Kallmann syndrome – Franz Josef Kallmann
Kanner syndrome – Leo Kanner
Kaposi sarcoma – Moritz Kaposi
Kartagener syndrome – Manes Kartagener
Kasabach–Merritt syndrome – Haig Haigouni Kasabach, Katharine Krom Merritt
Kashin–Beck disease – Nicolai Ivanowich Kashin, Evgeny Vladimirovich Bek
Kawasaki disease – Tomisaku Kawasaki
Kearns–Sayre syndrome – Thomas P. Kearns, George Pomeroy Sayre
Kennedy's disease – William R. Kennedy
Kennedy's syndrome – Robert Foster Kennedy
Kenny-Caffey syndrome – Frederic Marshal Kenny, John Patrick Caffey
Kienbock's disease – Robert Kienböck
Kikuchi's disease – Masahiro Kikuchi, Y.Fujimoto
Kimmelstiel–Wilson disease – Paul Kimmelstiel, Clifford Wilson
Kimura's disease – T. Kimura
King–Kopetzky syndrome – P. F. King, Samuel J. Kopetzky
Kinsbourne syndrome – Marcel Kinsbourne
Kjer's optic neuropathy – Poul Kjer
Klatskin's tumor – Gerald Klatskin
Klinefelter syndrome – Harry Klinefelter
Klüver–Bucy syndrome – Heinrich Klüver, Paul Bucy
Köhler disease – Alban Köhler
Korsakoff syndrome – Sergei Korsakoff
Kounis syndrome – Nicholas Kounis
Krabbe's disease – Knud Haraldsen Krabbe
Krukenberg tumor – Friedrich Ernst Krukenberg
Kugelberg–Welander disease – Erik Klas Henrik Kugelberg, Lisa Welander
Kuttner's tumor – Hermann Küttner

L

Lafora's disease – Gonzalo Rodriguez Lafora
Laron syndrome – Zvi Laron
Laurence–Moon syndrome – John Zachariah Laurence, Robert Charles Moon
Laurence–Moon–Bardet–Biedl syndrome (a.k.a. Laurence–Moon–Biedl–Bardet syndrome, a.k.a. Laurence–Moon–Biedl syndrome - both now deemed invalid constructs, see instead Bardet–Biedl syndrome) – John Zachariah Laurence, Robert Charles Moon, Georges Bardet, Arthur Biedl
Legg–Calvé–Perthes syndrome – Arthur Legg, Jacques Calvé, Georg Perthes
Leigh's disease – Denis Archibald Leigh
Leiner syndrome – Karl Leiner, André Moussous
Leishmaniasis – Sir William Boog Leishman
Lejeune's syndrome – Jérôme Lejeune
Lemierre's syndrome – André Lemierre
Lenègre's disease – Jean Lenègre
Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (a.k.a. Lennox syndrome) – William Gordon Lennox, Henri Jean Pascal Gastaut
Lesch–Nyhan syndrome – Michael Lesch, William Leo Nyhan
Letterer–Siwe disease – Erich Letterer, Sture Siwe
Lev disease – Maurice Lev
Lewandowsky–Lutz dysplasia – Felix Lewandowsky, Wilhelm Lutz
Li–Fraumeni syndrome – Frederick Pei Li, Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr.
Libman–Sacks disease – Emanuel Libman, Benjamin Sacks
Liddle's syndrome – Grant Liddle
Lisfranc injury (a.k.a. Lisfranc dislocation, a.k.a. Lisfranc fracture) – Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin
Listeriosis – Joseph Lister
Lobomycosis – Jorge Lobo
Loeys-Dietz Syndrome - Bart Loeys, Hal Dietz
Löffler's eosinophilic endocarditis – Wilhelm Löffler
Löfgren syndrome – Sven Halvar Löfgren
Lou Gehrig's disease – Lou Gehrig
Lowe Syndrome – Charles Upton Lowe
Ludwig's angina – Wilhelm Friedrich von Ludwig
Lujan-Fryns syndrome - J. Enrique Lujan, Jean-Pierre Fryns
Lynch syndrome – Henry T. Lynch

M

Machado–Joseph Azorean disease (a.k.a. Machado–Joseph disease, Machado disease, Joseph disease) – named for William Machado and Antone Joseph, patriarchs of families in which it was first identified
Marie–Foix–Alajouanine syndrome – Pierre Marie, Charles Foix, Théophile Alajouanine
Maladie de Charcot – Jean-Martin Charcot
Mallory–Weiss syndrome – G. Kenneth Mallory, Soma Weiss
Mansonelliasis – Sir Patrick Manson
Marburg multiple sclerosis – Otto Marburg
Marfan syndrome – Antoine Marfan
Marshall syndrome – Richard E. Marshall
Marshall–Smith–Weaver syndrome (a.k.a. Marshall–Smith syndrome, Greig syndrome) – Richard E. Marshall, David Weyhe Smith
Martin–Albright syndrome (a.k.a. Albright IV syndrome) – August E. Martin, Fuller Albright
May–Hegglin anomaly – Richard May, Robert Hegglin
Maydl's hernia—Karel Maydl
Mayer–Rokitansky–Küster–Hauser syndrome (MRKH) - August Franz Josef Karl Mayer, Carl von Rokitansky, Hermann Küster, Georges Andre Hauser
Mazzotti reaction – Luigi Mazzotti
McArdle's Disease – Brian McArdle
McCune–Albright syndrome – (a.k.a. Albright disease, Albright hereditary osteodystrophy, Albright syndrome) – Donovan James McCune, Fuller Albright
Meckel–Gruber syndrome (a.k.a. Meckel syndrome) – Johann Meckel, Georg Gruber
Meigs' syndrome – Joe Vincent Meigs
Ménétrier's disease – Pierre Eugène Ménétrier
Ménière’s disease – Prosper Ménière
Menkes disease – John Hans Menkes
Middleton syndrome – Stephen John Middleton
Mirizzi syndrome
Mikulicz's disease – Jan Mikulicz-Radecki
Miss Havisham syndrome (a.k.a. Diogenes syndrome, Havisham syndrome, and Plyushkin syndrome) – Miss Havisham, a fictional character in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations
Mondor's disease – Henri Mondor
Monge's disease – Carlos Monge
Mortimer's disease – First documented by Jonathan Hutchinson, named for his patient Mrs. Mortimer
Morton's neuroma
Moschcowitz syndrome – Eli Moschcowitz
Mowat–Wilson syndrome – David Mowat, Meredith Wilson
Mucha–Habermann disease – Viktor Mucha, Rudolf Habermann
Mulvihill–Smith syndrome – John J. Mulvihill, David Weyhe Smith
Munchausen syndrome – Baron Munchausen
Munchausen syndrome by proxy – Baron Munchausen
Myhre–Riley–Smith syndrome – S. Myhre, Harris D. Riley Jr.

N

Nasu–Hakola disease – T. Nasu, P. Hakola
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma – Thomas Hodgkin
Noonan syndrome – Jacqueline Noonan

O

Opitz-Kaveggia syndrome – John M. Opitz, Elisabeth G. Kaveggia
Ormond's disease – John Kelso Ormond
Osgood–Schlatter disease – Robert Bayley Osgood, Carl B. Schlatter
Osler–Weber–Rendu syndrome – William Osler, Frederick Parkes Weber, Henri Jules Louis Marie Rendu
Othello Syndrome – Delusional or pathological jealousy

P

Paget's disease of bone (a.k.a. Paget's disease) – James Paget
Paget's disease of the breast (a.k.a. Paget's disease of the nipple) – James Paget
Paget's disease of the penis – James Paget
Paget's disease of the vulva – James Paget
Paget–Schroetter disease (a.k.a. Paget–Schroetter syndrome and Paget–von Schrötter disease) – James Paget, Leopold von Schrötter
Parkinson's disease – James Parkinson
Patau syndrome – Klaus Patau
Pearson syndrome – Howard Pearson
Pelizaeus–Merzbacher disease – Friedrich Christoph Pelizaeus, Ludwig Merzbacher
Pendred syndrome - Vaughan Pendred - a British doctor (1869–1946)
Perthes syndrome – Arthur Legg, Jacques Calvé, Georg Perthes
Peutz–Jeghers syndrome – Jan Peutz, Harold Jeghers
Peyronie's disease – François Gigot de la Peyronie
Pfaundler–Hurler syndrome – Meinhard von Pfaundler, Gertrud Hurler
Pick's disease – Arnold Pick
Pickardt syndrome – Renate Pickardt
Plummer's disease – Henry Stanley Plummer
Plummer–Vinson syndrome (a.k.a. Kelly–Patterson syndrome, Paterson–Brown–Kelly syndrome, and Waldenstrom–Kjellberg syndrome) – Henry Stanley Plummer and Porter Paisley Vinson
Plyushkin syndrome (a.k.a. Diogenes syndrome, Havisham syndrome, and Miss Havisham syndrome)– Stepan Plyushkin, a fictional character in Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls
Poland's syndrome – Alfred Poland
Pompe's disease – Johann Cassianius Pompe
Pott's disease – Percivall Pott
Pott's puffy tumor – Percivall Pott
Potocki–Lupski syndrome – Lorraine Potocki, James R. Lupski
Potocki–Shaffer syndrome – Lorraine Potocki, Lisa G. Shaffer
Potter sequence – Edith Potter
Prader–Willi syndrome – Andrea Prader, Heinrich Willi
Prasad's Syndrome – Ashok Prasad
Primrose syndrome – D. A. Primrose
Prinzmetal angina – Myron Prinzmetal
Purtilo syndrome (a.k.a. Duncan disease and Duncan syndrome) –

Q

R

Ramsay Hunt syndromes – James Ramsay Hunt
Ranke complex – Karl Ernst Ranke
Raymond Céstan syndrome – Étienne Jacques Marie Raymond Céstan
Raynaud disease – Maurice Raynaud
Refsum disease – Sigvald Bernhard Refsum
Reiter syndrome – Hans Conrad Julius Reiter (This is now a strongly discouraged eponym due to Dr. Reiter's Nazi party ties. The disease is now known as reactive arthritis.)
Rett syndrome – Andreas Rett
Reye syndrome – Douglas Reye
Rickettsiosis – Howard Taylor Ricketts
Riddoch syndrome – George Riddoch
Riedel thyroiditis – Bernhard Riedel
Riggs disease – John M. Riggs (dentist)
Riley–Day syndrome – Conrad Milton Riley, Richard Lawrence Day
Riley–Smith syndrome – Harris D. Riley Jr., William R. Smith
Ritter disease – Baron Gottfried Ritter von Rittershain
Robles disease – Rodolfo Robles
Roger disease – Henri Louis Roger
Rolandic epilepsy – Luigi Rolando
Rotor syndrome – Arturo Belleza Rotor
Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome – Jack Herbert Rubinstein, Hooshang Taybi
Russell–Silver syndrome – Alexander Russell, Henry Silver
Ruvalcaba–Myhre syndrome – Rogelio H. A. Ruvalcaba, S. Myhre
Ruvalcaba–Myhre–Smith syndrome – Rogelio H. A. Ruvalcaba, S. Myhre, David Weyhe Smith
Ruzicka–Goerz–Anton syndrome – T. Ruzicka, G. Goerz, I. Anton-Lamprecht

S

Saint's triad – C. F. M. Saint
Sandhoff disease – Konrad Sandhoff
Sandifer syndrome – Paul Sandifer
Sanjad-Sakati syndrome (a.k.a Sanjad-Sakati-Richardson-Kirk syndrome, Hypoparathyroidism-retardation-dysmophic (HRD)) - Sami A. Sanjad, Nadia Awni Sakati, Ricky J Richardson, Jeremy MW Kirk
Schamberg disease – Jay Frank Schamberg
Scheie syndrome – Harold Glendon Scheie
Scheuermann's disease – Holger Scheuermann
Schilder's disease – Paul Ferdinand Schilder
Schinzel–Giedion syndrome – Albert Schinzel, Andreas Giedion
Schnitzler syndrome – Liliane Schnitzler
Seaver Cassidy syndrome – Laurie Seaver, Suzanne Cassidy
Seligmann's disease – Maxime Seligmann
Sever's disease – J. W. Sever
Shabbir syndrome – G. Shabbir
Sheehan's syndrome – Harold Leeming Sheehan
Shprintzen's syndrome – Robert Shprintzen
Shwachman–Bodian–Diamond syndrome – Harry Shwachman, Martin Bodian, Louis Klein Diamond
Silver–Russell syndrome (a.k.a. Silver–Russell dwarfism) – Henry Silver, Alexander Russell
Simmonds' syndrome – Moritz Simmonds
Sipple's syndrome – John H. Sipple
Sjögren syndrome – Henrik Sjögren
Sjögren–Larsson syndrome – Torsten Sjögren, Tage Konrad Leopold Larsson
Skumin syndrome - Victor Skumin
Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome – David Weyhe Smith
Stargardt disease – Karl Stargardt
Steele–Richardson–Olszewski syndrome –
Stevens–Johnson syndrome – Albert Mason Stevens, Frank Chambliss Johnson
Sturge–Weber syndrome – William Allen Sturge, Frederick Parkes Weber
Still's disease – Sir George Frederic Still
Susac's syndrome – John Susac
Sutton's disease – Richard Lightburn Sutton

T

TAN syndrome – Tan Aik Kah
Takayasu's arteritis – Mikito Takayasu
Tatton-Brown-Rahman syndrome - Kate Tatton Brown, Nazneen Rahman
Tay–Sachs disease – Warren Tay, Bernard Sachs
Theileriosis – Sir Arnold Theiler
Thomsen's disease – Julius Thomsen
Tietz syndrome – Walter Tietz
Tietze syndrome – Alexander Tietze
Temple–Baraitser syndrome - Karin Temple and Michael Baraitser
Todd syndrome (a.k.a. Alice in Wonderland syndrome) - John Todd
Tourette syndrome – Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette
Treacher Collins syndrome – Edward Treacher Collins
Turcot syndrome – Jacques Turcot
Turner syndrome – Henry Turner

U

V

Valentino syndrome – Rudolph Valentino
Verner Morrison syndrome – J. V. Verner, A. B. Morrison
Vincent's angina – Henri Vincent
Virchow's syndrome – Rudolf Virchow
Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease - Alfred Vogt, Yoshizo Koyanagi, Einosuke Harada
Von Gierke's disease – Edgar von Gierke
Von Hippel–Lindau disease – Eugen von Hippel, Arvid Vilhelm Lindau
Von Recklinghausen's disease – Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen
Von Willebrand's disease – Erik Adolf von Willebrand
Von Zumbusch (acute) generalized pustular psoriasis) – (a.k.a. Zumbusch psoriasis) Leo Ritter von Zumbusch
Von Zumbusch syndrome (a.k.a. Csillag disease, Hallopeau disease, Zumbusch syndrome) – Leo Ritter von Zumbusch

W

Waardenburg syndrome – Petrus Johannes Waardenburg
Waldenstrom–Kjellberg syndrome – Jan G. Waldenström, S. R. Kjellberg
Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia – Jan G. Waldenström
Warkany syndrome 1 – Joseph Warkany
Warkany syndrome 2 – Joseph Warkany
Warthin's tumor – Aldred Scott Warthin
Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome – Rupert Waterhouse, Carl Friderichsen
Watson syndrome – G.H.Watson
Weber–Christian disease – Frederick Parkes Weber, Henry Asbury Christian
Wegener's granulomatosis – Friedrich Wegener (This usage is now formally discouraged by professional medical societies due to the Nazi associations of the eponymous physician. The disease is now known as granulomatosis with polyangiitis.)
Weil's disease – Adolf Weil
Welander distal myopathy – Lisa Welander
Wells syndrome – George Crichton Wells
Werdnig–Hoffmann disease – Guido Werdnig, Johann Hoffmann
Wermer's syndrome – Paul Wermer
Werner's syndrome – Otto Werner
Wernicke's encephalopathy – Karl Wernicke
Westerhof syndrome – Wiete Westerhof
Westerhof–Beemer–Cormane syndrome – Wiete Westerhof, Frederikus Antonius Beemer, R. H.Cormane
Whipple's disease – George Hoyt Whipple
Williams syndrome – J. C. P. Williams
Wilms tumor – Max Wilms
Wilson's disease – Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson
Willis–Ekbom syndrome – Thomas Willis, Karl-Axel Ekbom
Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome – Alfred Wiskott, Robert Aldrich
Wittmaack–Ekbom syndrome – Theodur Wittmaack, Karl-Axel Ekbom
Wohlfart–Kugelberg–Welander disease – Karl Gunnar Vilhelm Wohlfart, Erik Klas Henrik Kugelberg, Lisa Welander
Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome – Louis Wolff, John Parkinson, Paul Dudley White
Wolman disease – Moshe Wolman
Wernicke encephalopathy - Carl Wernicke
Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome - (Named for the combination of Wernicke encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome which were discovered separately, unlike usual naming this disease was not discovered by Carl Wernicke and Sergei Korsakoff)

X

Y

Yesudian syndrome – Paul Yesudian

Z

Zahorsky syndrome I – John Zahorsky
Zahorsky syndrome II (a.k.a. Mikulicz' Aphthae, Mikulicz' Disease, Sutton disease 2, Mikulicz' Aphthae, Zahorsky disease) – John Zahorsky
Zellweger syndrome – Hans Ulrich Zellweger
Zenker diverticulum – Friedrich Albert von Zenker
Zenker paralysis – Friedrich Albert von Zenker
Zieve syndrome – Leslie Zieve
Zimmermann–Laband syndrome (a.k.a. Laband syndrome, Laband–Zimmermann syndrome) – Karl Wilhelm Zimmermann
Zollinger–Ellison syndrome – Robert Zollinger, Edwin Ellison
Zondek–Bromberg–Rozin syndrome (a.k.a. Zondek syndrome) – Bernhard Zondek, Yehuda M. Bromberg, R.Rozin
Zuelzer syndrome – Wolf William Zuelzer
Zuelzer–Kaplan syndrome II (a.k.a. Crosby syndrome) – Wolf William Zuelzer, E. Kaplan
Zuelzer–Ogden syndrome – Wolf William Zuelzer, Frank Nevin Ogden
Zumbusch psoriasis (a.k.a. von Zumbusch (acute) generalized pustular psoriasis) – Leo Ritter von Zumbusch
Zumbusch syndrome (a.k.a. Csillag disease, Hallopeau disease, von Zumbusch syndrome) – Leo Ritter von Zumbusch

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^ Weiss, Emilio, Strauss, Bernard S. (1991). "The Life and Career of Howard Taylor Ricketts". Reviews of Infectious Diseases. Vol. 13. The University of Chicago. pp. 1241–2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Thomsen, Julius (1875). "Tonische Krämpfe in willkürlich beweglichen Muskeln in Folge von ererbter physischer Disposition (Ataxia muscularis?)". Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten. 6. Berlin: 702–718. doi:10.1007/bf02164912. S2CID 46151878.
^ WHO (May 2015). "World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases". World Health Organization: 3. Retrieved 24 June 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ MacAskill, Michael R.; Anderson, Tim J. (16 April 2013). "Whose name is it anyway? Varying patterns of possessive usage in eponymous neurodegenerative diseases". PeerJ. 2013 (1): e67. doi:10.7717/peerj.67. PMC 3642700. PMID 23646286.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

External links

Whonamedit?, a site dedicated to medical eponyms and their namesakes.

[1] Merton R K, 1973

[2] Gordon, BL (1971). Current medical information and terminology (4th ed.). Chicago.

[3] "How are genetic conditions and genes named?: MedlinePlus Genetics".

[4] WHO (May 2015). "World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases". World Health Organization: 3. Retrieved 24 June 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[5] WHO (8 May 2015). "News News releases Statements Notes for the media Previous years Commentaries Events Fact sheets Fact files Questions & answers Features Multimedia Contacts WHO issues best practices for naming new human infectious diseases". World Health Organization. Retrieved 24 June 2020.

[pmid46972-6] "Classification and nomenclature of morphological defects". Lancet. 1 (7905): 513. March 1975. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(75)92847-0. PMID 46972. S2CID 37636187.

[7] Jana N, Barik S, Arora N (2009-03-09). "Current use of medical eponyms—a need for global uniformity in scientific publications". BMC Med Res Methodol. 9: 18. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-9-18. PMC 2667526. PMID 19272131.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

[8] Macaskill MR, Anderson TJ (16 April 2013). "Whose name is it anyway? Varying patterns of possessive usage in eponymous neurodegenerative diseases". PeerJ. 1: e67. doi:10.7717/peerj.67. PMC 3642700. PMID 23646286.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

[9] "Possessives".

[10] Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. Merriam-Webster. 1994. p. 475. ISBN 978-0-87779-132-4.

[11] Fries, Charles Carpenter (1940). American English Grammar: The Grammatical Structure of Present-day American English with Especial Reference to Social Differences Or Class Dialects. Appleton-Century. (not checked by editor)

[12] Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. Merriam-Webster. 1994. p. 475. ISBN 978-0-87779-132-4. The only statistical investigation of the genitive case that we are aware of can be found in Fries 1940. Fries found that the possessive genitive was the most common, but that it accounted for only 40 percent of all genitives.

[13] Segen, J. C. (1992). The dictionary of modern medicine. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781850703211.

[MTStars-14] "For eponyms, AAMT advocates dropping the possessive form". MTStars. Retrieved 23 July 2011.

[15] Weiss, Emilio, Strauss, Bernard S. (1991). "The Life and Career of Howard Taylor Ricketts". Reviews of Infectious Diseases. Vol. 13. The University of Chicago. pp. 1241–2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[16] Thomsen, Julius (1875). "Tonische Krämpfe in willkürlich beweglichen Muskeln in Folge von ererbter physischer Disposition (Ataxia muscularis?)". Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten. 6. Berlin: 702–718. doi:10.1007/bf02164912. S2CID 46151878.

[17] WHO (May 2015). "World Health Organization Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases". World Health Organization: 3. Retrieved 24 June 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[18] MacAskill, Michael R.; Anderson, Tim J. (16 April 2013). "Whose name is it anyway? Varying patterns of possessive usage in eponymous neurodegenerative diseases". PeerJ. 2013 (1): e67. doi:10.7717/peerj.67. PMC 3642700. PMID 23646286.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

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