List of fictional diseases and disorders

Horde of zombies from Night of the Living Dead
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.


In multiple media

Name Source Description 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

In particular media

Name Source Description 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".
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.
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.
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.
The phage Star Trek: Voyager A necrotizing plague that affects members of the Vidiian species. Organ transplants are required for survival.
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.
Techno-organic virus Marvel Comics A virus that transforms living tissue into techno-organic material, which resembles both machinery and living tissue.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Stableford 2006, p. 365.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Hale-Stern, Kaila (1 September 2021). "What Is Hanahaki Disease, Fandom's Favorite Fictional Ailment?". The Mary Sue. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  4. ↑ Penha, Elisa (6 March 2024). "In Sickness and In Health: Memories from the Time of Hanahaki Disease in Fanfiction". Acta Victoriana. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ Urquart, Jennifer (2014). "'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". Mallorn (55 Winter 2014): 14–17.
  10. ↑ Ford, Judy Ann; Reid, Robin Anne (2009). "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". Tolkien Studies. 6 (1): 75–76. doi:10.1353/tks.0.0036. ISSN 1547-3163. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
  11. ↑ 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. JSTOR. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
  12. ↑ Phelps & Lukosch 2020.
  13. ↑ Fawcett & McGreevy 2019, pp. 90–92.
  14. ↑ Much 2024, p. 399.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ Roppolo, Joseph Patrick (1967). "Meaning and 'The Masque of the Red Death'". In Regan, Robert (ed.). Poe: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. pp. 134–144.
  17. ↑ Engber, Daniel. "The Weird Science of Edgar Allan Poe." Atlantic Monthly, vol. 328, no. 1, July 2021, pp. 84–87. , EBSCOhost
  18. ↑ 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. EBSCOhost.
  19. ↑ Cook, Jonathan A. (2019-12-10). "Poe and the Apocalyptic Sublime". Religion and the Arts. 23 (5). Walter de Gruyter GmbH: 489–515. doi:10.1163/15685292-02305002. ISSN 1079-9265.
  20. ↑ 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. EBSCOhost

Bibliography

Further reading