Table 1.
Major Infectious Diseases’ origin of the name and historical correlation.
| S.No | Disease Name | Word of origin with English meanings | Etymological comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthrax | The Greek word “anthrax” means Charcoal (Palasiuk and Kolodnytska 2020) | Relates to the color of the scab of skin lesions |
| 2 | Botulism | Medieval Latin “botulus” for Sausage | Food from which the organism was the first isolated (Erbguth and Nauman 2000) |
| 3 | Tetanus | From Romanized Ancient Greek, “tetanos” that means taut | Clinical feature of muscle spasm |
| 4 | Varicella | Latin word “varicella” is diminutive of variola (smallpox) | Smaller skin lesions compared to smallpox |
| 5 | Zoster | Greek “zoster” for belt/ girdle | A belt-like skin lesion is seen in herpes zoster |
| 6 | Diphtheria | Greek “diphthera” means prepared hide or leather (Mansfield et al., 2018) | The leather-like tough membrane formed in the throat |
| 7 | Leprosy | Greek “léprā” stands for scaly skin lesions | Clinical features of the disease |
| 8 | Measles | Middle English “masel” for the little spot | Skin lesions |
| 9 | Mumps | English “Mump” meaning to mutter, or Iceland “mumpa” meaning to “fill mouth too much” (Charles Patrick Davis 2022) | Characteristics articulation sound of the patient likened to talking with a mouth full of potato. |
| 10 | Pertussis | Latin “per” for intensive & “tussis” for cough | Clinical features of the disease |
| 11 | Q fever | English “query fever.” | To replace original epithets like Abattoir Fever to discourage defaming the cattle industry |
| 12 | Rabies | Latin “rabere” (to rage) or Sanskrit “rabhas” (to do violence) (Beran 2017) | Clinical features seen in canines and human cases |
| 13 | Rubella | New Latin “ruber” for red | Color of skin rash |
| 14 | Syphilis | Greek word “syphilus” was first used in 1530 by Italian physician and poet Hieronymus Fracastorius in a poem (Spitzer 1955) | A Greek mythological character of shepherd believed to be the first sufferer of the disease |
| 15 | Trachoma | Greek “trάcuma” that stands for roughness | Pathological changes in eyes mucosa |
| 16 | Typhus | Greek “typhos” means stupor, smoke, blind | Clinical features of the disease |
| 17 | Typhoid | Greek “typhoid” means typhus like | Initially thought to be typhus but later differentiated as a separate entity |