Random Terrifying TV Episodes About Diseases (12 items)

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  (#6) 'Downton Abbey' Tackles The Spanish Flu Pandemic

  • February 12, 2012

  Downton Abbey isn't known for its terrifying visuals; however, its Virginia Woolf-esque dedication to depicting the rampant ennui of the early 20th century shows how a lack of care can help a disease spread throughout a group of friends.

  As people throughout the episode drop like flies, Doctor Clarkson attempts to provide information about the Spanish flu, but everything he says is either comically wrong or just confuses everyone even more. 

  In some instances, this could be funny, but it shows how misinformation can lead to a higher mortality rate. This is one of the more realistic looks at a pandemic and, outside of the show's period trappings, it feels modern.
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  (#3) Airborne

  • April 10, 2007

  Doctor House just can’t catch a break. While he’s on a trans-polar flight from Singapore to New York, people keep getting sick. Along the way, he tries to prove that there's not an outbreak of bacterial meningitis threatening to leave most of the passengers in body bags.

  This episode is absolutely terrifying, from a man vomiting a mysterious pink liquid on the plane to everyone on board having to be quarantined. However, the most disturbing thing about the episode is that there’s no virus and, aside from the vomiting man, everyone else is experiencing psychosomatic symptoms.
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  (#7) Message to the Emperor

  • May 13, 2007

  The sweating sickness is easily one of the most disgusting illnesses on television. There's nothing worse that seeing characters perspiring like they're sitting in a sauna; you can almost smell them through the screen. 

  One of the most upsetting things about the sweating sickness (aside from how it looks) is that there's no real cure. Initially, Harry believes that "infusions" will save him, but his doctor says that the only real way to stay healthy is through rest, exercise, and a positive outlook. That's the last thing you want to hear when a mysterious illness is tearing through a castle.

  The illness burns itself out over the course of the episode with no rhyme or reason, and that's one of the most upsetting things about a mass illness.
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  (#10) ‘CSI’ Quarantines Its Cast After A Cadaver Is Found To Have A Blood-Borne Pathogen

  • October 12, 2014

  While investigating a case in which the victim was suffering from a hemorrhagic fever before being shot, Sara and Greg are exposed to his blood and have to be quarantined. Meanwhile, the rest of the team investigates the theft of the pathogen in order to stop a real-deal outbreak.

  In “Bad Blood,” the CDC is called in to nip the illness in the bud, but their methods will destroy all of the evidence. The investigators have to figure out what’s more important - their case or the potential lives of millions. The scariest thing about this episode is the insight it provides into the decision-making process around an outbreak.
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  (#9) My Cabbage

  • February 28, 2006

  Even though it’s a comedy, Scrubs always has a handle on the realities of illness and doctors' struggles with keeping their patients safe. In “My Cabbage,” chief of medicine Dr. Kelso explains how an infection is the apex predator of a hospital. 

  In a scene early in the episode, a bacteria is traced from person to person through the hospital, beginning with a boy who sneezes into his hands before it's passed from a tissue to a handshake and eventually spreads to all of the patients.

  By the end of the episode, one patient with a compromised immune system is hit with the bacteria and perishes. This episode shows that a bacterial spread isn’t a malicious thing and can be passed along without anyone knowing.
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  (#1) F. Emasculata

  • April 28, 1995

  “F. Emasculata” is one of the most upsetting hours of television from the '90s, which is saying something for an episode of The X-Files. Aside from being a little too close for comfort in the era of COVID-19, this episode is extremely gross. 

  When two prisoners infected with the disease escape from prison, they infect the surrounding area with a nasty, face-erupting virus that really puts the TV-14 guidelines to the test. And there are no easy answers at the end of the episode. Even though Mulder puts the last of the infected prisoners down, he never manages to trace the illness to its real source.

  This is one of the most visceral TV episodes about disease, and if you're easily freaked out, it's one to avoid.

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