# Diseases named for patients **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 28, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403 "2006-07-28T15:19:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/1 "2006-07-28T15:19:11Z")
As far I knew only one disease, Christmas disease, was named after a patient. I have been told, on moderately good authority, that there is at least one more. Does anyone know other diseases named after patients? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/2 "2006-07-28T15:27:32Z")
Oh, there are a few. Off the top of my head, there’s Lou Gehrig’s disease, for example. According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponymous_diseases), there are at least a couple more: Hartnup disease and Mortimer’s disease. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/3 "2006-07-28T15:48:30Z")
If you include diseases named after a group of patients: _Legionnaires’ disease_ ([Legionellosis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionellosis)). ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/4 "2006-07-28T16:13:33Z")
I don’t count Lou Gehrig’s disease because it was called ALS long before Gehrig contracted it. This would only be diseases named after a patient when first described. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/5 "2006-07-28T16:25:16Z")
I believe that the Yankees are renaming Lou Gehrigs’s Disease. As part of their negotiations with a hot young Japanese pitcher it will become Daisuke Matsuzaka’s Disease. Negotiations are still open for Plide of the Yankees. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/6 "2006-07-28T16:31:26Z")
Does [Elephantiasis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephantiasis) count? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/7 "2006-07-28T16:32:11Z")
[Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Alcides_Carri%C3%B3n) is one where the disease was named after the doctor (well, medical student, in this case) who first described it AND the patient it was first described in. > [@](#): > > Daniel Alcides Carrión was a Peruvian medical student who gave his name to Carrion’s disease. He described the disease after being infected in 1885 by a close friend on his request. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/8 "2006-07-28T16:39:21Z")
Bacitracin is named after Margaret Tracey, the 7-year old patient on whom the beneficial bacteria was discovered. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/9 "2006-07-28T16:49:23Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Alcides_Carri%C3%B3n) is one where the disease was named after the doctor (well, medical student, in this case) who first described it AND the patient it was first described in. Also [Huntington’s Disease](http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/huntington/huntington.htm). The most famous person to have this genetic condition was Woody Guthrie, though his son Arlo seems to have been spared. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/10 "2006-07-28T16:59:02Z")
Well, as Groucho put it, “I’ve got Osgood Schlatter’s Disease, and he’s got mine.” Okay, that doesn’t really count, because they’re the guys that discovered it, but I think it’s funny. Plus, I’ve had it. If we widen the field to include the non-physical, could we add the Christ Complex? ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/11 "2006-07-28T17:07:14Z")
In the book The Hot Zone, one strain of Ebola is often referred to by the name of the nurse who first contracted it. I think the name was Ebola Mahenga, a sub strain of Ebola Zaire. I don’t have the book handy, and a short Google only came up with the strains named after places (Ebolas Zaire, Sudan, Reston, and Tai, along with the related disease, Marburg). Using the nurse’s name may have been isolated to the book. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/12 "2006-07-28T17:11:03Z")
[Chandipura virus](http://www.uq.edu.au/vdu/VDUChandipuraVirus.htm) [Quilty Lesions](http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/474263) [Cowden’s Disease](http://tinyurl.com/k93hs) [Mortimers Malady](http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/845.html) [Satchmo’s Syndrome](http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/439438_4) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/13 "2006-07-28T17:14:18Z")
That’s [Chandipura virus](http://www.uq.edu.au/vdu/VDUChandipuraVirus.htm) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-named-for-patients/366403/14 "2006-07-28T22:02:32Z")
I swear I’m not making this up: [Jumping Frenchmen of Maine](http://www.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/nord380.asp) (I never heard of this, until last Sunday’s article in \*Parade \* with the alarming title: **Do You Have a Rare Disease**?)