Eponymous Diseases Trivia Quiz

Answer: Addison's disease

A rare endocrine disorder that results in an underproduction of certain hormones, namely cortisol and sometimes aldosterone. It can be treated by replacing the missing amounts of hormones for the rest of the person's life. The condition was first described by British doctor Thomas Addison in 1855. He used the term melasma suprarenale, however others gave it the name it is now known by. It is an autoimmune disease.

Answer: Lazarus syndrome

As the name suggests, this is connected to resurrection. The syndrome name is a reference to the story in the Bible about Lazarus of Bethany who was raised from the dead by Jesus. To be more accurate, the syndrome is the spontaneous return of a normal cardiac rhythm after failed resuscitation attempts.

There have been around 40 documented instances since 1982 when it was first documented in medical journals.

Answer: Graves' disease

Also called Basedow's disease or exophthalmos, Graves' disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Irish doctor Robert James Graves described the condition in 1835 with Karl Adolph von Basedow, a German physician, following in 1840. In mainland Europe, Basedow is the more common eponym. There are at least five other earlier 18th or 19th contenders for the eponym however the first description came in the 12th century from Persian physician Zayn al-Din Gorgani.

Answer: Diogenes syndrome

Recognised as a condition in 1966, it was named after the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope who was reputed to live in a large jar in Athens. As well as compulsive hoarding and extreme self-neglect, social withdrawal is also a characteristic which makes Diogenes (who sought human company) a less than suitable eponym.

Other names used include Miss Haversham (after the Dickens character) and Plyushkin (after the Gogol character).

Answer: Hodgkin lymphoma

First described by British physician Thomas Hodgkin in 1832, this cancer originates in a type of white blood cell called a lymphocyte. Roughly half of cases of this lymphoma are caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), one of nine human herpesvirus types and one of the most common viruses in people. EBV is linked to many cancers.

Answer: Salmonellosis

Both the microorganism genus and the infection salmonellosis are named after the late 19th century American veterinary surgeon Daniel E Salmon. The salmonella bacteria genus causes the infection with the food-borne route addressed by regulations typically requiring food to be heated to certain temperatures to kill off bacteria. Food is not the only source of infection and the 1975 'four-inch regulation' in the US banned the sale of turtles with a carapace length of less than four inches (10 cm). This was successful in reducing the number of infections in those young children prone to sticking pet turtles in their mouths.

Answer: Bell's palsy

The facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) can misfunction resulting in the loss of control of facial muscles on one side, leading to paralysis. It is not clear what causes it and it is usually temporary. Diagnosis is by exclusion of other possibilities. The condition was described by the Persian physician Rhazes (865-925) but Scottish surgeon Charles Bell (1174-1842) was the first to make the nerve connection.

Answer: Lyme disease

The most common tick-borne disease in the northern hemisphere, Lyme disease is caused by species of the Borrelia bacteria. It has been around a long time with the earliest evidence found in the Iceman, a well-preserved 5,300 year old mummy found in the Ötztal Alps in Europe in 1991.

The disease was first diagnosed as a separate condition in 1975 at Lyme, Connecticut, USA, which is the source of the name. Being named after a place, the disease name is more accurately called a toponym rather than an eponym.

Answer: Lou Gehrig's disease

Also known as motor neurone disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a muscle-wasting disease known in USA as Lou Gehrig's disease after the baseball player who was diagnosed with the disease in 1939. This is a rare example of a disease being named after a patient. The Scottish surgeon Charles Bell (with Bell's palsy named after him) was an early describer of the disease. French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot was the first to use the ALS term in 1874.

Answer: Brucellosis

An example of zoonotic disease, where a pathogen jumps from a non-human vertebrate to humans, it is caused by the Brucella genus of bacteria. It was Major-General David Bruce, a Scottish pathologist and microbiologist, who established the link between the bacteria and what was called Malta fever or Mediterranean fever. American bacteriologist Alice C Evans realised that two pathogens, one causing the fever in humans and one causing abortions in cows, were in fact the same with the link being unpasturised milk. This led to pasturisation as standard and much improved dairy shed cleanliness.