Random Terrifying TV Episodes About Diseases (12 items)

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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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  (#2) Lockdown

  • May 16, 2002

  The Season 8 finale of ER, called "Lockdown," puts Carter and Abby in direct contact with a dangerous virus. The hospital is quarantined as the staff tries to take care of their normal caseload, as well as a busload of senior citizens. It’s a perfect storm, and at its eye are two children.

  The illness is similar to smallpox and, while sitting in quarantine, the doctors start to show signs of exposure. Though it doesn’t look as gross as some of the illnesses on this list, it’s a stressful and realistic vision of ground zero of a viral outbreak.
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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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  (#4) Plague

  • April 25, 2004

  "Plague" is a super realistic look at smallpox in the 19th century. When the disease comes to Deadwood, a "sick tent" is built and men are dispatched for a smallpox cure, yet everyone remains out of their depth. The episode doesn't just deal with the nasty nature of the illness, but also the way that regular people often have to bear the brunt of taking care of the sick.

  The patients are dirty and gross, but they never veer into David Cronenberg territory. Instead, the episode simply offers a realistic portrayal of caring for people who are gravely ill with little hope of survival.

  This look at illness and disease is filled with existential dread, especially when you try to parse why some people are affected and others aren't.
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  (#5) A Typhus Outbreak Comes To Walnut Grove In ‘Little House on the Prairie’

  • January 29, 1975

  Little House on the Prairie follows the Ingalls family as they forge a life on a farm in Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 19th century. In the Season 1 episode, “Plague,” typhus breaks out in the town after diseased bugs and rats get into the town’s cornmeal supply.

  Many of the inhabitants of Walnut Grove continue on with their regular lives instead of staying home, even though Doc Baker insists on a quarantine. Pa Ingalls catches the disease and has to stay in town while his family practices social distancing on the farm.

  Even though everyone is staying home, they’re still getting sick, which is honestly the scariest part of this episode. Pa and Doc eventually figure out that it’s the diseased cornmeal that's getting everyone sick, and burn it to the ground.
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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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  (#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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  (#8) Wishin' and Hopin'

  • February 1, 2007

  In "Wishin' and Hopin'," a cancerous patient is admitted to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and, somehow, the physicians treating her begin to fall ill. It's eventually revealed that a chemical reaction stemming from the mix of an herbal supplement and chemotherapy is making the patient's blood toxic, making it impossible to treat her without getting sick.

  In order to operate on the cancer patient, Shepherd and Burke have to enter the OR wearing airtight suits with oxygen tanks - which is way spookier than you think Grey’s Anatomy is going to get. The tension is ratcheted up when Shepherd and Burke run out of oxygen before they can close up the patient’s incision. 

  Yang, Stevens, and Meredith Grey have to hold their breath to enter the OR and close up the patient. The episode isn’t directed by John Carpenter, but it feels like it.
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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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  (#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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  (#11) Typhoid Fever Sweeps Through A Ship On 'Outlander'

  • November 19, 2017

  While attempting to stop the spread of typhoid fever on an English ship, Claire has to use everything at her disposal to treat this bacterial disease that spreads through food, water, and close touch. Claire is forced to take care of these people - mostly teenagers - who are holding her prisoner, making the situation bittersweet when many of them perish from typhoid.

  The thing about this depiction of typhoid fever is that everyone is in such close quarters that all characters are at risk. There’s no way to quarantine yourself without starving, so you just have to put yourself in harm’s way - which is the last thing you want to do during a pandemic.
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  (#12) The Quarantine

  • January 2, 1995

  Chicago Hope is one of many medical dramas from the '90s that looked at the realities of quarantining and the spread of disease, and the episode dealing with the Ebola virus is horrifying. After doctors Geiger and Nyland learn that they’ve been exposed to the Ebola virus, they’re placed in quarantine. 

  The most frightening thing in “The Quarantine” is that no one knows if they have Ebola for much of the episode. Even though the doctors come out of the quarantine unscathed, the hospital has lost the trust of the public, and they’ve all gotten on each other’s nerves - which is one of the most realistic takes on quarantine on television.

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