6 Of The Most Interesting Diseases To Have Ravaged Humanity

Published June 7, 2014
Updated October 1, 2015
Interesting Diseases Parry Romberg Profiles

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Poor health is one of those things, like divorce and the loss of a loved one, that you know will touch your life at some point but would rather not think about too much. At least, we generally expect that somebody, somewhere is “working” on the problem. Certain especially interesting diseases, however, compel our attention and call into question the notion that humans have this whole “modern medicine” thing figured out.

Some interesting diseases count as such because their symptoms are so bizarre, others because they’re so incredibly rare, and still others because they’re so mysterious that doctors who study them have no choice but to shrug and guess that the sufferers are under a sorcerer’s curse.

With symptoms like rock eating, change in accent, and a lopsided face, here are six of history’s most interesting diseases.

 

First up: It feels awful to do it, and this disease makes you do it again and again and again…

author
Richard Stockton
author
Richard Stockton is a freelance science and technology writer from Sacramento, California.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.