Each year 5-20% of the U.S. population will get the flu, yet most of us have likely never taken a moment to think about the etymology of this common condition.
Derived from the Latin root, "influentia" which means "to flow into," the name influenza stems from medieval times when people thought that humans could fall under the influence of liquid flowing off of stars, .
And while you may know that syphilis was prevalent in 14th-century Europe, did you know that the Polish, French, Italians, and Russians had an ongoing dispute over the origins of the condition?
STAT has the goods on these diseases -- plus listeria, norovirus, cholera, legionnaires' disease, and dengue -- and the interesting stories behind their names.