Capitalize Diseases and Procedures Named for Persons or Places
Capitalization
Rulebase Summary
Capitalize diseases, equipment, techniques, or procedures that bear the name of a person or place — Parkinson's disease, Heimlich maneuver, Lyme disease. Capitalize and italicize the scientific genus names of plants and animals; do not capitalize the species and subspecies names.
Examples
A. The patient was diagnosed with parkinson's disease.
A. The patient was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson is a proper name — the disease named for him retains the capital.
A. He was treated for Pneumonia and lyme disease.
A. He was treated for pneumonia and Lyme disease.
Common disease names (pneumonia) are lowercase; place-derived names (Lyme) are capitalized.
Transcript Notes
Capitalize diseases, equipment, techniques, or procedures that bear the name of a person or place (Parkinson's disease, Hodgkin's disease, Lyme disease, Heimlich maneuver, Bates stamp). Capitalize and italicize the scientific names (genus) of plants and animals (Borrelia burgdorferi, Canis familiaris, Hamamelis virginiana). Italicize, but do NOT capitalize, the species and subspecies. Common names of diseases (leukemia, measles, chicken pox) are NOT capitalized.
Style Guide References (1)
Morson's