disease names

The medical profession has urged since the 1970s the dropping of the possessive S at the end of disease names which were originally named after their discoverers (“eponymous disease names”). The possessive is thought to confuse people by implying that the persons named actually had the disease.Thus “Ménière’s syndrome” became “Ménière syndrome,” Bright’s disease” became “Bright disease” and “Asperger’s syndrome“ became “Asperger syndrome.”But the public has not always followed this rule. “Alzheimer disease“ is still widely called “Alzheimer’s disease” or just “Alzheimer’s.” Only among professionals is this really considered a mistake.“Down syndrome,” named after John Langdon Down—originally written “Down’s syndrome”—has been so often mistakenly written without its apostrophe as “Downs syndrome” that many people conclude that the syndrome’s discoverer must have been named “Downs.”Although some professionals write “Huntington disease”—originally “Huntington’s chorea”—many still write “Huntington’s.” But another

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• weiner vs wiener
• ninty vs ninety
• blindsighted vs blindsided
• below table vs table below
• gaurd vs guard
• submittal vs submission
• extend vs extent
• pastorial vs pastoral
• as less as possible vs as little as possible
• warmongerer vs warmonger