The Funniest Fake Disease Names from Fiction, Pop Culture & More

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Plus, some actual disease names that sound too funny to be real!

Co-authored by Roy Cohen and Marcus Pruitt, BS

Last Updated: November 7, 2025 Fact Checked

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Funny Fake Diseases

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From Pop Culture

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From Fiction

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Realistic Fake Diseases

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Real Diseases That Sound Fake

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Creating a Name

Disease names can sound weird, and if you’ve never heard of a particular ailment before, you might be wondering whether it’s a real condition at all! Well, there are plenty of funny-sounding fake disease names out there. We’ve collected a list of them all, including made-up diseases from pop culture, fiction, and more. Plus, we’ve even got a list of real disease names that sound fake.

Our Favorite Fake Disease Names

Shreckles
Hippopotamus Fever
Lactoes Intolerance
Boneitis
Bigpox
Flankles
Mad Snail Disease

Section 1 of 6:

Funny Fake Disease Names

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People love creating funny fake disease names like Hippopotamus Fever. Fake disease names are a popular phenomenon in society, with plenty of people coming up with or using fake disease names to joke around and make their friends laugh. From names like Hippopotamus Fever to Mississippiphobia, these fake disease names are gut-busting:
- Hippopotamus Fever: A disease where you sweat like a hippopotamus.
- Text Neck Syndrome: A disease where your neck gets stuck downward from texting too much.
- Worcestershiresauceixa: A dyslexic-like disability where you’re unable to say Worcestershire sauce.
- Shreckles: Plenty of freckles on your face, but instead of freckles… they’re a bunch of little Shreks.
- Mississippiphobia: A disease where you fear having to spell the word “Mississippi.”
- Lactoes Intolerance: Like lactose intolerance, but instead of lactose, you can’t tolerate being exposed to other people’s toes without dealing with irritated bowels.
- Covid Newteen: A disease where you get similar symptoms to COVID-19 whenever you are exposed to the teachings of Isaac Newton.
- Bigpox: Like smallpox, but the blisters are huge.
- Iron Efficiency: Rather than having too little iron in your bloodstream, you have too much.
- Horse Hiccups: Like regular hiccups, but you neigh like a horse against your will.
- Sneezy-Wheezy: A disease where you uncontrollably sneeze after wheezing.
- The Gru: Like the flu, but you get sick every time you see Gru from Despicable Me.
- Coach Potatoitis: A disease where you’re unable to get off the couch.
- St. Patrick’s Doom: A syndrome where you feel an impending sense of doom every St. Patrick’s Day.
- Backstroke Intolerance: A disease where your bowels become uncontrollable whenever you do a backstroke in the water.
- Lion Fever: A syndrome where your hair grows like a lion’s mane whenever you get sick.
- Chronic Mondays: A disease where you feel overwhelmingly sluggish and uninterested in completing work tasks, but only on Mondays.
- Hyperacute Forehead Hydrosis: A disease where you excessively sweat from a specific area of your forehead more than anywhere else.
- Popsicle Neck: A syndrome where you believe your neck is a popsicle stick.
- Eraser Toes: A syndrome where your toes emit eraser-like flakes whenever you rub them on something.
- Diaper Nose: A disease where the snot from your nostrils bubbles up like a used diaper when you’re sick.
- Iceberg Isotosis: A syndrome where you believe every piece of ice you look at is the size of an iceberg.
- Flankles: A syndrome where your ankles flake whenever they rub on something.
- Cushion Face: A disease that causes your face to swell up into the exact shape of a couch cushion.
- Rubber Band Hands: A disease that causes your hands to uncontrollably stretch and contract.

Section 2 of 6:

Fake Diseases From Pop Culture

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Cooties is a made-up disease of unknown origin that’s been popular on children’s playgrounds for decades. The effects are debated, but it is typically contracted by touching someone of the opposite gender who is the same age as you. It’s most common among younger children below the age of ten.
Ligma is a made-up internet disease that tricks people into saying a phrase that sounds like it begins with “lick my.” Typically, the person tricking the other person says that they’ve come down with a case of ligma, and when the tricked person responds with “Ligma? What’s that?” the other person busts out laughing as they say “ligma balls!” It’s immature, but lowkey hilarious.^{[1]
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The 6-7 disease is a fairly new fake disease, coming off the coattails of the 6-7 meme where people bust out laughing whenever they hear the numbers “6, 7.” The disease is from South Park and slowly creeps up on its victims. They start by laughing whenever they hear 6-7, but the laughs quickly become uncontrollable and lead to vomiting, spiritual possession, and bodily spasms.

Section 3 of 6:

Funny Disease Names From Fiction

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Fiction has gifted us with many funny diseases like Shame or Ratititis. The good thing about fiction is that it allows for endless creativity. This creativity often results in hilarious punchlines, names, and fake diseases. While the diseases are often written to be deadly or detrimental to a character’s way of life, they also have funny names, like:
- Zombification: A classic disease across fiction that turns dead humans into undead, man-eating, brainless zombies.
- Boneitis: A disease from Futurama that causes the bones to horrifically contort, resulting in great pain.^{[2]
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- Spattergroit: A disease from the Harry Potter series that covers the victim in purple pustules and keeps them from speaking.^{[3]
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- Monkey Business: A Cowboy Bebop virus that takes human DNA and tweaks it to make people resemble chimpanzees.^{[4]
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- Krippin Virus: A fictional man-made virus from 2007’s I Am Legend. Slowly turns the victim into a bloodlusted, primal maneater.^{[5]
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- Shame: A terminal disease from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that kills the host due to their overwhelming shame.
- Jellyitis: A disease from the video game Theme Hospital that causes victims to wobble like jelly when they walk.^{[6]
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- Collins’ Syndrome: A disease from The Legend of Deathwalker by David Gemmell that starts with pain in the nipples and feeds on the brain, taking away the victim’s intelligence.^{[7]
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- Ratititis: A fictional disease from Roald Dahl’s Boy: Tales of Childhood that causes a rat tail and fangs to come out of a person’s body after eating licorice made from rats.^{[8]
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- Teen Plague: An STD from Charles Burns’ Black Hole that causes extra body parts to grow, spurs other mutations, and only affects teenagers.^{[9]
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- The Taint: A disease from Dragon Age that causes madness and deformities. Victims hear voices from the Old Gods.^{[10]
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Section 4 of 6:

Fake Diseases That Sound Real

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Some fake disease names are so clever, they almost sound real. Sometimes, authors and storytellers come up with disease names that sound like something you could catch tomorrow. While the symptoms are obviously fictional, if you were to see these names on a doctor’s note, you’d probably start sweating bullets:^{[11]
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- Vampirism: A fictional disease that turns you into a vampire (an undead, immortal creature who has a thirst for blood and can’t be exposed to sunlight).
- Hanahaki Disease: A fan fiction trope disease that causes characters to cough up bloody flowers that have grown in their bodies due to unrequited love.^{[12]
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- Red Flu: An extremely contagious disease from The Lost Ship that causes fevers, headaches, and exhaustion. After a few days, lesions appear on the victim, then they slide into delirium, organ failure, hemorrhaging, and death.
- MEV-1: A plague from Contagion that transfers through close contact and causes fever, fatigue, shortness of breath, seizures, and eventually, death.
- Simian Flu (ALZ-112): A disease from Planet of the Apes that gives apes human-like intelligence while causing humans to cough up blood and die.
- Mad Snail Disease: A disease from SpongeBob Squarepants that causes bloodshot eyes, messy pants, untrimmed toenails, loss of balance, and ticklish ribs. It’s spread by infected snails.^{[13]
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- TS-19: An airborne virus from The Walking Dead that infects everyone in the universe. Once they die, they are reanimated into a zombie.^{[14]
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- Hepatitis V: A corrupted virus from True Blood that kills vampire victims from the inside out.^{[15]
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- MM88: A lethal virus from Virus that strengthens the potency of other viruses and bacteria it contacts.^{[16]
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- Maze Virus: A plague from The Cured that turns victims into cannibalizing, homicidal maniacs.^{[17]
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- Methuselah Syndrome: A genetic disease from Blade Runner that speeds up the aging process.^{[18]
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- The Flare: A manmade disease from Maze Runner that slowly eats away at the victim’s brain and turns them into a bloodthirsty monster who eats other people.^{[19]
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- Motaba Virus: An extremely deadly disease from Outbreak that causes the internal organs to liquify.^{[20]
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- Corpus: A disease from Elder Scrolls III that causes the host to grow cancerous tumors and fall into violent insanity.^{[21]
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- Barclay’s Protomorphosis Syndrome: An artificial virus from Star Trek that causes victims to revert into ancient lifeforms from their respective homeworlds.^{[22]
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- Carnosaur Virus: A lethal airborne virus from Carnosaur that causes women to become pregnant with dinosaur embryos.^{[23]
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Section 5 of 6:

Real Disease Names that Sound Fake

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There are plenty of real diseases with funny names, too! While the diseases and disorders may be unpleasant for the victims, you have to admit that some names are completely off-the-wall. Some of these off-the-wall names include:
- Foot-in-Mouth Disease: A severe viral infection that causes fever, blisters, loss of appetite, and excess saliva in animals.^{[24]
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- Dancing Mania: A medieval plague that caused people to flee their houses and dance uncontrollably in the streets.^{[25]
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- Fish Odor Syndrome: A rare disorder where your body generates an unpleasant, persistent fish-like odor.^{[26]
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  Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
  
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- Werewolf Syndrome: A rare skin disease where you grow excessive amounts of hair all over your body, like a werewolf.^{[27]
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- Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: A condition where you believe parts of your body are much bigger or smaller than they actually are.^{[28]
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  Cleveland Clinic
  Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
  
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- Tree Man Disease: A rare disorder where you develop various warts on your body that resemble tree bark.^{[29]
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- Alien Hand Syndrome: A syndrome characterized by involuntary limb movements that feel intentional or purposeful, like an alien controlling your hand.^{[30]
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  Cleveland Clinic
  Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
  
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- Stone Man’s Disease: A disorder where your ligaments, tendons, or skeletal muscles turn into bone and become locked in place.^{[31]
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- Sleeping Beauty Syndrome: A neurological condition where you sleep for an excessive amount of time (up to 20 hours a day).^{[32]
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  Cleveland Clinic
  Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
  
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- Mad Cow Disease: A fatal disease that makes cows get aggressive, lose coordination, and slowly pass away. When transferred to humans, it can cause anxiety, depression, dementia, and eventual death.^{[33]
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  US Food and Drug Administration
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- Walking Corpse Syndrome: A rare disorder where you believe that you’re dead or have died before.^{[34]
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- Auto-Brewery Syndrome: A rare condition where the body makes alcohol internally. It can lead to intoxication without the external consumption of alcohol.^{[35]
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  Cleveland Clinic
  Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals
  
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Section 6 of 6:

How to Come Up with a Funny Disease Name

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Pick a funny word to make a pun with and use it to come up with a name. There are plenty of different ways to go about coming up with a funny disease name, but having a funny word that’s able to be turned into a pun is key for coming up with one that really gets the laughs going. Puns are a good direction to go. Just remember to make it funny without being dirty or including curse words.
- For example, if you want to come up with a funny disease name that refers to someone not being able to stop talking, take something real, like foot-in-mouth disease, and change it to something like “Can’t keep foot-in-mouth disease.”