Star Trek: 10 Weirdest Medical Cases

Case: Acute Viral Infection Leading to Aphasia

Not to upset the galaxy's finest drinkers of the beverage, but you may never look at your replicated coffee the same way again after reading this case.

In 2369, there was a viral outbreak on Deep Space 9 (formerly the Cardassian station Terok Nor). The disease's primary symptom was to mimic receptive aphasia, also known as Wernicke's aphasia, by scrambling synaptic pathways in the brain. Those affected were unable to comprehend spoken and written language or produce meaningful speech without jargon.

Other symptoms included fever, confusion, and unconsciousness as the virus began to attack the autonomic nervous system. A complete emergency quarantine of Deep Space 9 was ordered and maintained throughout, although not without some difficulty.

This was not a naturally occurring virus, but a synthetic one, created by members of the Bajoran Resistance and planned for use on Terok Nor against the Cardassians. A device was planted into the replicator system which, once accidentally activated about 18 years later, then built the virus at the molecular level into any replicated food/drink. Treatment required extensive viral characterisation research to develop an antidote series (…and, technically speaking, a kidnapping).