Diseases, disorders, infections, and pathogens have appeared in

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

as part of a major plot or thematic importance. They may be fictional

psychological disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

s, magical, from

mythological Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

or fantasy settings, have

evolved naturally Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation t ...

, been genetically modified (most often created as biological weapons), or be any illness that came forth from the (ab)use of technology. __TOC__

In comics and literature

In film

In television

In video games

In role playing games

References

* '' Disease in Fiction. Its place in current literature'' Nestor Tirard, 1886. * ''Vital Signs Medical Realism in Nineteenth-Century Fiction'' Lawrence Rothfield, 1992. * ''Les malades imaginés: Diseases in fiction'' René Krémer. Journal: Acta Cardiologica, 2003. * ''No Cure for the Future: Disease and Medicine in Science Fiction and Fantasy'' Gary Westfahl & George Slusser, 2002. * ''Nineteenth-Century Narratives of Contagion'' Allan Conrad Christensen, 2005. * '' The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases'' Jeff VanderMeer & Mark Roberts (ed). {{ISBN, 0-553-38339-6 List of fictional diseases

Diseases A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that ar ...