List of interesting infectious diseases and reason behind their funny name

Common name of some of the infectious diseases are really funny and dont bear any relationship with their scientific names or etiology. But some of these names are derived from the mode of transmission of diseases and in which group of people, the disease is more prevalent.

Here i have tried to list some of those funny names. If you know any such other names, please write it in the comment.

  1. Darling disease: Histoplasma capsulatum causes Histoplasmosis which is also called “Darling’s disease”.
  2. Kissing disease: Infectious mononucleosis is also called Kissing disease which is caused by Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) . EBV is commonly transmitted by infected saliva and initiates infection in the oropharynx.
  3. Farmer’s lung disease:  Farmer’s lung disease (FLD) is a hypersensitivity pneumonitis  which is caused by the inhalation of moldy hay spores. Farmers are at high risk of developing this disease compared with other occupations.
  4. Rose Gardner’s disease: Sporotrichosis also called as rose gardner’s disease,  is caused by Sporothrix schenckiii
    Rationale behind common name: 
    Sporotrichosis  is occupational hazards for farmers, nursery workers, gardeners and florists.
  5. Swimming pool granuloma/Fish Tank granuloma:  It is a disease caused by NonTuberculous Mycobacteria, Mycobacterium marinum. The normal habitat of Mycobacterium marinum is the sea or fresh water and traumatic injury while swimming/cleaning fish tank/ aquarium might result to this infection.
  6. Fifth Disease: Erythema infectiosum (also called fifth disease) is the most common manifestations of human parvovirus B19  infection.
  7. Chicken pox: Do not get confused, Chicken pox does not have any relationship with neither Chicken nor Pox virus.
    Varicella zoster virus causes varicella (chickenpox), which is a highly contagious but mild disease of mainly children. It is characterized by a generalized vesicular eruption of skin and mucus membranes.
About Acharya Tankeshwar 452 Articles


  1. sir,, namaste.. I have a lot of problems regarding microbiological terms especially in clinical microbiology. may you suggest any useful dictionary for it or any other suggestion.. your blogs are really helpful to me and thanks a lot..

