Bahima Disease is a birth defect caused by iron deficiency in infants which are fed exclusively on cow's milk. It is characterized by a tower-shaped skull, of the diploe, and no signs of thalassaemia, sickle cell or other haemolytic anaemia.

It occurs most frequently in the Bahima people in Ankole, Uganda, from which it derives its name. The Bahima are a tribe that relies heavily on herding of long-horned cattle for survival.

The symptoms and signs of Bright's disease were first described in 1827 by the English physician Richard Bright, after whom the disease was named. In his "Reports of Medical Cases", he described 25 cases of dropsy (edema) which he attributed to kidney disease. Symptoms and signs included: inflammation of serous membranes, hemorrhages, apoplexy, convulsions, blindness and coma. Many of these cases were found to have albumin in their urine (detected by the spoon and candle-heat coagulation), and showed striking morbid changes of the kidneys at autopsy. The triad of dropsy, albumin in the urine and kidney disease came to be regarded as characteristic of Bright's disease. Subsequent work by Bright and others indicated an association with cardiac hypertrophy, which was attributed by Bright to stimulation of the heart. Subsequent work by Mahomed showed that a rise in blood pressure could precede the appearance of albumin in the urine, and the rise in blood pressure and increased resistance to flow was believed to explain the cardiac hypertrophy.

It is now known that Bright's disease is due to a wide range of diverse kidney diseases; thus, the term "Bright's disease" is retained strictly for historical application. The disease was diagnosed frequently in patients with diabetes; at least some of these cases would probably correspond to a modern diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy.

Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling, the presence of albumin in the urine and was frequently accompanied by high blood pressure and heart disease.

Pogosta disease is a viral disease, established to be identical with other diseases, Karelian fever and Ockelbo disease. The names are derived from the words Pogosta, Karelia and Ockelbo, respectively.

The symptoms of the disease include usually rash, as well as mild fever and other flu-like symptoms; in most cases the symptoms last less than 5 days. However, in some cases, the patients develop a painful arthritis. There are no known chemical agents available to treat the disease.

It has long been suspected that the disease is caused by a Sindbis-like virus, a positive-stranded RNA virus belonging to the Alphavirus genus and family Togaviridae. In 2002 a strain of Sindbis was isolated from patients during an outbreak of the Pogosta disease in Finland, confirming the hypothesis.

This disease is mainly found in the Eastern parts of Finland; a typical Pogosta disease patient is a middle-aged person who has been infected through a mosquito bite while picking berries in the autumn. The prevalence of the disease is about 100 diagnosed cases every year, with larger outbreaks occurring in 7-year intervals.

There are three main types of the disease each with its own distinctive symptoms.

Type I infantile form, infants will develop normally until about a year old. At this time, the affected infant will begin to lose previously acquired skills involving the coordination of physical and mental behaviors. Additional neurological and neuromuscular symptoms such as diminished muscle tone, weakness, involuntary rapid eye movements, vision loss, and seizures may become present. With time, the symptoms worsen and children affected with this disorder will experience a decreased ability to move certain muscles due to muscle rigidity. The ability to respond to external stimuli will also decrease. Other symptoms include neuroaxonal dystrophy from birth, discoloration of skin, Telangiectasia or widening of blood vessels.

Type II adult form, symptoms are milder and may not appear until the individual is in his or her 30s. Angiokeratomas, an increased coarsening of facial features, and mild intellectual impairment are likely symptoms.

Type III is considered an intermediate disorder. Symptoms vary and can include to be more severe with seizures and mental retardation, or less severe with delayed speech, a mild autistic like presentation, and/or behavioral problems.

Full body or localized pain to the extremities (known as acroparesthesia) or gastrointestinal (GI) tract is common in patients with Fabry disease. This acroparesthesia is believed to be related to the damage of peripheral nerve fibers that transmit pain. GI tract pain is likely caused by accumulation of lipids in the small vasculature of the GI tract which obstructs blood flow and causes pain.

Common clinical signs of Tyzzer’s Disease include watery diarrhea, depression, emaciation, and a ruffled coat. Other observed clinical signs include melena, depression, lethargy, and decreased temperature. In muskrats, this disease is characterized by extensive hemorrhaging within the lower intestine and abdomen. Due to the fast-acting nature of this disease, infected individuals often do not live long enough to exhibit symptoms. It is not uncommon for an infected animal to die within 1-10 days of disease contraction.

During necropsy, inflammation of the ileum, cecum, and colon are commonly present. Perhaps the most distinctive trait of this disease, however, is the grayish yellow necrotic lesions found on the liver of diseased animals. The number of these spots present can range from one to countless. Occasionally, lesions are discovered in the lower intestinal tract and heart as well. Even with physical signs and symptoms present, a conclusive diagnosis is dependent upon the presence of "C. piliforme" within the liver of the infected animal.

Symptoms are typically first experienced in early childhood and can be very difficult to understand; the rarity of Fabry disease to many clinicians sometimes leads to misdiagnoses. Manifestations of the disease usually increase in number and severity as an individual ages.

Infants with Krabbe disease are normal at birth. Symptoms begin between the ages of 3 and 6 months with irritability, fevers, limb stiffness, seizures, feeding difficulties, vomiting, and slowing of mental and motor development. In the first stages of the disease, doctors often mistake the symptoms for those of cerebral palsy. Other symptoms include muscle weakness, spasticity, deafness, optic atrophy, optic nerve enlargement, blindness, paralysis, and difficulty when swallowing. Prolonged weight loss may also occur. Juvenile- and adult-onset cases of Krabbe disease also occur, which have similar symptoms but slower progression.

The most common symptoms are diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, and joint pains. The joint pains may be due to migratory non-deforming arthritis, which may occur many years before any digestive tract symptoms develop; they tend to involve the large joints but can occur in any pattern and tend not to damage the joint surface to the point that the joint becomes deformed. Fever and chills occur in a small proportion of people.

In its more advanced form, malabsorption (insufficient absorption of nutrients from the diet) leads to wasting and the enlargement of lymph nodes in the abdomen. Neurological symptoms (discussed below) are more common in those with the severe form of the abdominal disease. Chronic malabsorptive diarrhea leads to the poor absorption of fat, causing steatorrhea (fatty, offensive stool), flatulence, and abdominal distension. Protein-losing enteropathy may also occur, causing depletion of albumin, a blood protein, which may lead to peripheral edema caused by the lowered oncotic pressures.

Hyperpigmentation of the skin occurs in almost half; some also have skin nodules. Various eye problems, such as uveitis, may occur; this is typically associated with deteriorating vision and pain in the affected eye. Endocarditis (infection of the heart valve) has been reported in a small number of cases, sometimes in people with no other symptoms of Whipple's disease; this is typically noticed as breathlessness and leg swelling due to fluid accumulation as the heart is unable to pump fluid through the body.

Of those affected by Whipple's disease, 10–40% of people have problems related to the involvement of the brain; the symptoms relate to the part of the brain that is affected. The most common problems are dementia, memory loss, confusion, and decreased level of consciousness. Eye movement disturbances and myorhythmia (rapidly repetitive movements of the muscles) of the face, together referred to as "oculomasticatory myorhythmia", are highly characteristic for Whipple's disease. Weakness and poor coordination of part of the body, headaches, seizures, as well as a number of more uncommon neurological features, are present in some cases.

Disease onset is typically in early infancy but may occur later in life. Children who have the classic form of Farber disease develop symptoms within the first few weeks of life. These symptoms may include moderately impaired mental ability and problems with swallowing. The liver, heart and kidneys may also be affected. Other symptoms may include vomiting, arthritis, swollen lymph nodes, swollen joints, joint contractures (chronic shortening of muscles or tendons around joints), hoarseness and xanthomas which thicken around joints as the disease progresses. Patients with breathing difficulty may require a breathing tube.

Schindler disease, also known as Kanzaki disease and alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase deficiency is a rare disease found in humans. This lysosomal storage disorder is caused by a deficiency in the enzyme alpha-NAGA (alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase), attributable to mutations in the NAGA gene on chromosome 22, which leads to excessive lysosomal accumulation of glycoproteins. A deficiency of the alpha-NAGA enzyme leads to an accumulation of glycosphingolipids throughout the body. This accumulation of sugars gives rise to the clinical features associated with this disorder. Schindler disease is an autosomal recessive disorder, meaning that one must inherit an abnormal allele from both parents in order to have the disease.

The IgM type of heavy chain disease, μHCD, is often misdiagnosed as chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL) because the two diseases are often associated with each other and show similar symptoms.

Krabbe disease (KD) (also known as globoid cell leukodystrophy or galactosylceramide lipidosis) is a rare and often fatal lysosomal storage disease which results in progressive damage to the nervous system. KD involves dysfunctional metabolism of sphingolipids and is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. The disease is named after the Danish neurologist Knud Krabbe (1885–1965).

New York, Missouri and Kentucky include Krabbe in the newborn screening panel.

Whipple's disease is a rare, systemic infectious disease caused by the bacterium "Tropheryma whipplei". First described by George Hoyt Whipple in 1907 and commonly considered a gastrointestinal disorder, Whipple's disease primarily causes malabsorption but may affect any part of the body including the heart, brain, joints, skin, lungs and the eyes. Weight loss, diarrhea, joint pain, and arthritis are common presenting symptoms, but the presentation can be highly variable and approximately 15% of patients do not have these classic signs and symptoms.

Whipple's disease is significantly more common in men, with 87% of the patients being male. When recognized and treated, Whipple's disease can usually be cured with long-term antibiotic therapy; if the disease is left untreated, it is ultimately fatal.

Sandhoff disease symptoms are clinically indeterminable from Tay–Sachs disease. The classic infantile form of the disease has the most severe symptoms and is incredibly hard to diagnose at this early age. The first signs of symptoms begin before 6 months of age and the parents’ notice when the child begins regressing in their development. If the children had the ability to sit up by themselves or crawl they will lose this ability. This is caused by a slow deterioration of the muscles in the child’s body from the buildup of GM2 gangliosides. Since the body is unable to create the enzymes it needs within the central nervous system it is unable to attach to these gangliosides to break them apart and make them non-toxic. With this buildup there are several symptoms that begin to appear such as muscle/motor weakness, sharp reaction to loud noises, blindness, deafness, inability to react to stimulants, respiratory problems and infections, mental retardation, seizures, cherry red spots in the retina, enlarged liver and spleen (hepatosplenomegaly), pneumonia, or bronchopneumonia.

The other two forms of Sandhoff disease have similar symptoms but to a lesser extent. Adult and juvenile forms of Sandhoff disease are more rare than the infantile form. In these cases victims suffer cognitive impairment (retardation) and a loss of muscle coordination that impairs and eventually destroys their ability to walk; the characteristic red spots in the retina also develop. The adult form of the disease, however, is sometimes milder, and may only lead to muscle weakness that impairs walking or the ability to get out of bed.

The disease appears to be progressive in nature. The Fields twins started having problems when they were four years old. By the time they had reached the age of nine, they were having difficulty walking and needed frames to assist them with walking. Their muscles have been gradually deteriorating over time. The disease affects the twins' nerves, causing them to make involuntary muscle movements such as trembling in the hands.

The extent of the disease is still unknown as the two women are only 21. However, the disease has had no apparent effect on their brains or personalities. Doctors do not know if the disease is fatal and, if so, what the life expectancy of one with this disease is. If the cause of the disease is genetic, there is a chance that the twins could pass it on to their future children.

Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a form of Still's disease, a rare systemic autoinflammatory disease characterized by the classic triad of persistent high spiking fevers, joint pain, and a distinctive salmon-colored bumpy rash. The disease is considered a diagnosis of exclusion. Levels of the iron-binding protein ferritin may be elevated with this disorder. AOSD may present in a similar manner to other inflammatory diseases and to autoimmune diseases, which must be ruled out before making the diagnosis.

Prognosis is usually favorable but manifestations of the disease affecting the lungs, heart, or kidneys may occasionally cause severe life-threatening complications. It is treated first with steroids such as prednisone. Drugs that block the action of interleukin-1, such as anakinra, can be effective treatments when standard steroid treatments are insufficient.

A common complaint among patients with cold agglutinin disease is painful fingers and toes with purplish discoloration associated with cold exposure. In chronic cold agglutinin disease, the patient is more symptomatic during the colder months.

Cold agglutinin mediated acrocyanosis differs from Raynaud phenomenon. In Raynaud phenomena, caused by vasospasm, a triphasic color change occurs, from white to blue to red, based on vasculature response. No evidence of such a response exists in cold agglutinin disease.

Other symptoms

- Respiratory symptoms: May be present in patients with "M pneumoniae" infection.

- Hemoglobinuria (the passage of dark urine that contains hemoglobin), A rare symptom that results from hemolysis, this may be reported following prolonged exposure to cold, hemoglobinuria is more commonly seen in paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria.

- Chronic fatigue, Due to anemia.

Farber disease (also known as Farber's lipogranulomatosis, ceramidase deficiency, "Fibrocytic dysmucopolysaccharidosis," and "Lipogranulomatosis") is an extremely rare (80 cases reported worldwide to this day) autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease marked by a deficiency in the enzyme ceramidase that causes an accumulation of fatty material sphingolipids leading to abnormalities in the joints, liver, throat, tissues and central nervous system. Normally, the enzyme ceramidase breaks down fatty material in the body’s cells. In Farber Disease, the gene responsible for making this enzyme is mutated. Hence, the fatty material is never broken down and, instead, accumulates in various parts of the body, leading to the signs and symptoms of this disorder.

Franklin's disease (gamma heavy chain disease)

It is a very rare B-cell lymphoplasma cell proliferative disorder which may be associated with autoimmune diseases and infection is a common characteristic of the disease. It is characterized by lymphadenopathy, fever, anemia, malaise, hepatosplenomegaly, and weakness. The most distinctive symptom is palatal edema, caused by nodal involvement of Waldeyer's ring.

Diagnosis is made by the demonstration of an anomalous serum M component that reacts with anti-IgG but not anti-light chain reagents. Bone marrow examination is usually nondiagnostic.

Patients usually have a rapid downhill course and die of infection if left untreated or misdiagnosed.

Patients with Franklin disease usually have a history of progressive weakness, fatigue, intermittent fever, night sweats and weight loss and may present with lymphadenopathy (62%), splenomegaly (52%) or hepatomegaly (37%). The fever is considered secondary to impaired cellular and humoral immunity, and thus recurrent infections are the common clinical presentation in Franklin disease. Weng et al. described the first case of Penicillium sp. infection in a patient with Franklin disease and emphasized the importance of proper preparation for biopsy, complete hematologic investigation, culture preparation and early antifungal coverage to improve the outcome.

The γHCD can be divided into three categories based on the various clinical and pathological features. These categories are disseminated lymphoproliferative disease, localized proliferative disease and no apparent proliferative disease.

- Disseminated lymphoproliferative disease is found in 57-66% of patients diagnosed with γHCD. Lymphadenopathy and constitutional symptoms are the usual features.

- Localized proliferative disease is found in approximately 25% of γHCD patients. This is characterized by a localization of the mutated heavy chains in extramedullary tissue, or solely in the bone marrow.

- No apparent proliferative disease is seen in 9-17% of patients with γHCD, and there is almost always an underlying autoimmune disorder.

Fields' disease is considered to be one of the rarest known diseases in the world, with only two diagnosed cases in history. The frequency of this disease is therefore 1 in approximately 3.75 billion (although since the disease manifested in identical twins, the actual frequency is 1 in approximately 7.5 billion). It is named after Welsh twins Catherine and Kirstie Fields, of Llanelli. Fields' disease is a neuromuscular disease, causing muscular degeneration.

The disease was first noticed when the twins were around the age of four. Doctors have been unable to identify it and have not been able to match it to any known diseases. As a result, the Fields sisters have undergone numerous tests, but no treatment has yet been found. No definitive cause has been determined and doctors have generally concluded that they were born with it.

Most people do not have symptoms. It can cause a mild to moderate enlargement of the spleen, splenomegaly, as well as hemolytic anemia (which is the form of anemia due to abnormal breakdown of red blood cells prematurely). Too much hemoglobin C can reduce the number and size of red blood cells in the body, causing mild anemia. Occasionally, jaundice may occur. Some persons with this disease may develop gallstones that require treatment. Continued hemolysis may produce pigmented gallstones, an unusual type of gallstone composed of the dark-colored contents of red blood cells.

Tyzzer’s disease is an acute epizootic bacterial disease found in rodents, rabbits, dogs, cats, birds, pandas, deer, foals, cattle, and other mammals including gerbils. It is caused by the spore-forming bacterium "Clostridium piliforme", formerly known as "Bacillus piliformis". It is an infectious disease characterized by necrotic lesions on the liver, is usually fatal, and is present worldwide. Animals with the disease become infected through oral ingestion of the bacterial spores and usually die within a matter of days. Animals most commonly affected include young, stressed animals in laboratory environments, such as immature rodents and rabbits. Most commonly affected wild animals include muskrats "(Ondatra zibethicus)" and occasionally cottontail rabbits "(Lepus sylvaticus)". Even today, much remains unknown about Tyzzer’s disease, including how and why it occurs.

The disease typically presents with joint pain, high fevers, a salmon-pink rash, enlargement of the liver and spleen, swollen lymph nodes, and an increased white blood cell count in the blood. Tests for rheumatoid factor and anti-nuclear antibodies are usually negative and serum ferritin is elevated. Patients experiencing a flare-up from Adult-onset Still's disease usually report extreme fatigue, swelling of the lymph nodes and, less commonly, fluid accumulation in the lungs and heart. In rare cases, AOSD can cause aseptic meningitis and sensorineural hearing loss.