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Top 10 Weirdest Diseases  
STRANGE 

Tags: strange, diesease, weird, world, disorder, werewolf, elephantitis, rare, help

These are some of the weirdest diseases a human could contract:

1.	Progeria: Characterized by children looking as though they are 90 years old. - Because the "accelerated aging" diseases display different aspects of aging, but never every aspect, they are often called "segmental progerias" by biogerontologists. Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome is an extremely rare genetic condition which causes physical changes that resemble greatly accelerated aging in sufferers. The disease affects between 1 in 4 million (estimated actual) and 1 in 8 million (reported) newborns. Currently, there are 51 known cases in the world. There is no known cure, but several discoveries have been made that have lead to greater understanding and perhaps eventual treatment. Most people with progeria die around 13 years of age.
2.	Elephantiasis: Characterized by grossly enlarged members - a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the legs and genitals.
3.	Werewolf Syndrome: Characterized by excessive hair - Hypertrichosis or werewolf syndrome is a medical term referring to a condition of excessive body hair. It can be generalized, symmetrically affecting most of the torso and limbs, or localized, affecting an area of skin. It may be mild or severe. In most cases, the term is used to refer to an above-average amount of normal body hair that is unwanted and is an aspect of human variability.
4.	Blue Skin Disorder: the blue people - Methemoglobinemia, also known as "blue skin disorder", is a disorder characterized by the presence of a higher than normal level of methemoglobin in the blood. Methemoglobin is a form of hemoglobin that does not bind oxygen. When its concentration is elevated in red blood cells a functional anemia and tissue hypoxia may occur. The Fugates, a family that lived in the hills of Kentucky, are the most famous example of this hereditary chromosomal error. Known as the Blue Fugates, Martin Fugate, settled near Hazard, Kentucky, circa 1800
5.	Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: Characterized by time, space and body image distortion - Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS), or micropsia, is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human visual perception. Subjects perceive humans, parts of humans, animals, and inanimate objects as substantially smaller than in reality. Generally, the object perceived appears far away or extremely close at the same time. For example, a family pet, such as a dog, may appear the size of a mouse, or a normal car may look shrunk to scale.
6.	Pica: Characterized by the urge to eat non-food substances - Pica is an appetite for non-nutritive substances (e.g., coal, soil, chalk, paper etc.) or an abnormal appetite for some things that may be considered foods, such as food ingredients (e.g., flour, raw potato, starch). In order for these actions to be considered pica, they must persist for more than one month, at an age where eating such objects is considered developmentally inappropriate.
7.	Blaschko's Lines: Characterized by strange stripes all over the body - Blaschko's lines, also called the Lines of Blaschko, are an extremely rare and unexplained phenomenon of human anatomy first presented in 1901 by German dermatologist Alfred Blaschko. Neither a specific disease nor a predictable symptom of a disease, Blaschko's lines are an invisible pattern built into human DNA. Many inherited and acquired diseases of the skin or mucosa manifest themselves according to these patterns, creating the visual appearance of stripes. The cause of the stripes is thought to result from mosaicism; they do not correspond to nervous, muscular, or lymphatic systems. What makes them more remarkable is that they correspond quite closely from patient to patient, usually forming a "V" shape over the spine and "S" shapes over the chest, stomach, and sides.
8.	Jumping Frenchman Disorder: Characterized by strange reflexes - Jumping Frenchmen of Maine is a rare disorder originally described by G. M. Beard in 1878. It results in an exaggerated "startle" reflex, and was first noted among related French-Canadian lumberjacks in the Moosehead Lake area of Maine. It is not clear if the disorder is neurological or psychological. The "Jumping Frenchmen" seemed to react abnormally to sudden stimuli. Beard recorded, for instance, individuals who would obey any command given suddenly, even if it meant striking a loved one, and repeat back unfamiliar or foreign phrases uncontrollably. Beard also noticed that the condition was often shared within a family, suggesting that it was inherited.
9.	Vampire Disease: Characterized by pain from the sun - Porphyria has been suggested as an explanation for the origin of vampire and werewolf legends, based upon a number of similarities between the condition and the folklore that was first speculated upon by biochemist David Dolphin in 1985. His ruminations gave rise to a popular urban legend which accepts this association as factual, though it is historically and factually baseless. Porphyria cutanea tarda presents clinically as a pathological sensitivity of skin exposed to light causing scarring, hair growth and disfiguration. Additionally, it was believed that the patients' missing heme could be absorbed through the stomach, correlating with the legends' hematophagy
10.	Walking Corpse Syndrome: Characterized by people who believe they have died. - The Cotard delusion or Cotard's syndrome, also known as nihilistic or negation delusion, is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that he or she is dead, does not exist, is putrefying or has lost his/her blood or internal organs. Rarely, it can include delusions of immortality.

Lister: Pratt

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Comments: Incredibly interesting. I am a biology major and had not heard of most of these.... Comment by: rebecca9588 So if you mix numbers 3 & 4 you get Beast from X-Men Comment by: brotherbrawler