The Dredge Report (Redux)

In the forums of the ALS community at PatientsLikeMe, there’s an interesting discussion surrounding how ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is still commonly known as and referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” despite the fact that, as one colleague’s bumper sticker quips, “1 million people had ALS before Lou Gehrig.”

Looking through the list of eponymous diseases, there are some surprises—salmonella? Alzheimer’s Disease gets me thinking—maybe people should call diseases by their “celebrity name” only if there’s no scientific alternative. In the case of ALS, there clearly is such an alternative.