Tuesday, April 5, 2016

D Is For Diseases From A to Z #AtoZChallenge

From Love In the Time of Cholera to The Plague to Canterbury Tales, illness and its effects on people, relationships and civilization have proven an effective backdrop in literature. Tired of the same old diseases? Here's an A to Z list to peruse!



Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever
Bilharzia
Chikungunya
Crimean Congo virus
Dengue
Duvenhagesa
Ebola
Fasciitis (necrotizing)
Guanarito
Hanta Virus
IEIP
Junin
Kyasanur Forest virus
Lassa
LeDantec Rift Valley
Machupo
Marburg
Mokola
Monkeypox
Nameless Sao Paulo
Nipah
Omsk hemorrhagic fever
O'nyongnyong
Oropouche
Powassan
Q Fever
Rift Valley Fever
Rocio
Semliki Forest
Sindbis
Sin Nombre
Toxoplasmosis
Undulant fever
VEE (Venezuelan equine encephalitis)
West Nile 
XMRV
Yellow fever
Zika 

18 comments:

  1. They did have some impressive illnesses back in the day - good to see you are doing the challenge again..

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    1. Thanks David - I believe that all of these are still lurking within their particular vectors/natural reservoirs...

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  2. I'm familiar with some of these in my work as a medical transcriptionist; a lot of them haven't even heard of, which may be a good thing, right?

    betty
    http://viewsfrombenches.blogspot.com/

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    1. It is a good thing! I scrounged for unusual diseases to make the post a better resource for "fresh" ideas.

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  3. Some I know, some I don't and some sound like cocktails. For instance, Mokola.
    Aneeta from
    How to Tell a Great Story

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    1. LOL a lot of them are place names. I thought Mokola actually sounded like a good name for a character!

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  4. that list is utterly terrifying.

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    1. Yes, I thought the same thing. Many seem kind of rare, but then very few people had heard of Zika until it exploded this year.

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  5. Ooo, this is a good idea. I don't recall if I've written any stories with physically-ill characters.

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    1. It definitely opens up new avenues to explore, including the psychological effects, relationships, etc.

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  6. I love stories with diseases. Does that make me sick? lol
    Seriously though, I think that's why I like zombie stories.
    Stopping by and saying hi from the A to Z challenge!

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    1. Me too! I got hooked when I was 12 or 13 and read a book called Fever! about the discovery of Lassa fever. One of my favorite books is The Hot Zone by Richard Preston about the facility in Reston Virginia that was studying Marburg and Ebola viruses. If you haven't read it, go get it!

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  7. I'm working on a novel right now that I need a disease for. I thought Zika was going to be perfect, but after more research I decided it wasn't. This list is very helpful for finding a replacement. Thanks!

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    1. Cool!! I regret that I didn't have time to flesh these out...pretty sure I will use it as next year's A to Z theme, maybe a synopsis plus a little story for each one.

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  8. Your list made me itch & realize that there are a # of diseases that I've never heard of before (gee, thanks). But I enjoyed it anyway. Now if I can restrain from Googling them all to see what the symptoms are. I think I'll read about Frinkiac instead, LOL. :-) --Sati

    http://atozwriting.blogspot.com/

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    ReplyDelete