PATHOGNOMONIC SIGNS OF DISEASES

Pathognomonic is a term, often used in medicine that means characteristic for a

particular disease
-the word pathognomonic comes from the Greek pathognomonikos meaning
skilled in judging diseases
Pathognomonic Signs are particular sign whose presence means that a particular
disease is present beyond any doubt
Diseases
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
Abruption Placenta
Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Acute Renal Failure
Addison's disease
Amoebiasis
Angina pectoris
Appendicitis

Arthritis
Ascariasis
Asthma
Atrial Septal Defect
Autism
Bacterial Vaginosis
Basilar Fracture
Breech Birth
Buergers Disease (Thromboangitis Obliterans)
Bulimia Nervosa
Candidiasis
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Cataract
Celiac Disease

Signs
Pulsating abdominal mass
Painful bleeding, board-like abdomen
Auer rod
Azotemia, uremic frost on skin
Bronze-like skin pigmentation
Mucoid, foul explosive blood tinged
stool
Levine's sign (hand clutching of
chest)
Rebound tenderness (McBurneys
point)
Rovsing Sign (Right Left Quadrant
pain with palpation in Left lower
quadrant)
Buotonniere deformity, swan neck
deformity, ulnar drift, Bouchards
nodes
Vomiting, passing out of worms
Wheezing on expirations
Murmur heard high on chest
Rocking, spinning, routines
Grayish, white discharge, malodorous
Raccoons eye
Meconium staining
Intermittent claudication
Chipmunk facies (parotid gland
swelling)
Cheeselike discharge
Cherry pink flushed face, carbon in
the secretions, non productive cough
Jack Hammer Syndrome (Tinels
sign)
Blurry vision/hazy vision, cloudy
vision
Gluten sensitivity, watery, pale foul-

Diseases
Chicken Pox
Cholecystitis
Cholera
Chronic hemorrhagic pancreatitis
Cushings Syndrome
CVA
Cystocele and Rectocele
Cytomegalovirus infection
Dengue
Detached Retina
Diabetes Ketoacidosis
Diabetes Mellitus
Diphtheria
Down Syndrome
Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy
Emphysema
Encephalitis
Enterobiasis
Failure to Thrive (FTT)
GERD
Glaucoma
Gonorrhea
Gouty Arthritis
Guillain-Barre
Hemophilia
Henoch-Schnlein purpura
Hepatic Disease
Herpes Zoster
Hirschprungs disease (Megacolon)

Signs
smelling stool
Vesiculopapular rash
Murphy's sign (pain on deep
inspiration when inflamed gallbladder
is palpated)
Rice-watery stool
Washers woman hands
Grey-Turner's sign (ecchymosis in
flank area)
Moon face
Buffalo Hump
Homonymous Hemianopsia
Feeling of fullness at vagina
Owls eye appearance of inclusion
bodies
Hermans sign
Flashes of light, shadow with curtain
across the vision
Acetone breath
3Ps (polydipsia, polyphagia,
polyuria)
Pseudomembrane on tonsils,
pharynx and nasal cavity
Protruding tongue, saddle nose,
brushfields spots, single crease on
palm
Gowers' sign
Barrel chest
Decorticate and decerebate rigidity
Nocturnal itchiness
Radar gaze
Barret esophagus, heartburn
Tunnel vision
Burning sensation upon urination
Formation of tophi at the earlobe
usually the big toe
Ascending paralysis
Hemarthoses
A tetrade of rash, arthralgia,
abdominal pain and kidney disease in
a child
Asterixis, jaundice
Regional painful rash
Ribbon-like, foul smelling stool

Diseases
H-mole
Hodgkins Lymphoma
Hyperthyroidism
Hypocalcemia
Increased IOP
Intestinal Obstruction
Intussusceptions
Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Kawasaki Disease
Kleibsiella Pneumonia
Klinefelters Syndrome
Leprosy

Leptospirosis
Liver cirrhosis
Lymes disease
Malaria

Measles
Menieres disease
Meningitis
Meningococcemia
Monillasis
Multiple Sclerosis
Mumps
Myasthenia Gravis (MG)
Myocardial Infarction
Neurofibromatosis
Oral Thrush
Osteoporosis
Pancreatitis

Signs
Grapelike growth, large abdomen
Hodgkin and Reed-Sternburg cells
(giant mono- and multinucleated
cells)
Exophthalmos
Trousseau sign and Chvostek sign
Dolls eye
No passage of meconium
Sausage shaped mass, dance sign,
currant jelly-like stool
Typical triad: abdominal pain with
tenderness on palpation, altered
bowel habits, absence of detectable
disease
Strawberry tongue
Red gelatinous sputum
XXY in males
Leonine facies (thickened lion-like
facial skin)
Nerve involvement with acid fast
bacilli
Orange eyes
Spider angioma
Bull eyes rash
Cycle of hot stage (high fever)
followed by diaphoretic stage
(sweating) and then cold stage
(chilling)
Koplik's spots
Vertigo
Kernig's sign and Brudzinski's sign
Purple petechiae
White cheesy discharge
Descending weakness, Charcots
sign (intention tremor, nystagmus,
scanning speech)
Swollen parotid gland
Ptosis (inability to open upper
eyelids), nasal smile
Levines sign
Plexiform neurofibroma
White patches on tongue
Kyphosis
Cullen's sign (bluish discoloration of

Diseases
Parkinsons disease
Patent ductus arteriosus
Pericarditis
Pernicious anemia
Pertusis
Pertusis
Phemphigus Vulgaris
Phenylketonuria
Placenta previa
Pleural effusion
Pneumonia
Poliomyelitis
Rabies
Retinoblastoma
Rheumatic fever
Rock Mountain Spotted Fever
Scabies
Scarlet fever
Sickle cell anemia
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Tetanus
Tracheoesophageal fistula
Trichominiasis
Turners Syndrome
Typhoid fever
Whipples disease

Signs
umbilicus)
Pill-rolling tremors
Machine-like murmur
Pericardial friction rub
Red beefy tongue
Paroxysmal cough ending with a
whoop
Violent cough without intervening
inhalation followed by an inspiratory
whoop
Nikolsky sign
Blue eyes
Painless bright red bleeding
Stony dull percussion
Rusty colored sputum
Pokers sign, Haynes sign
Hydrophobia/photophobia
Cats eye reflex
Aschoff nodules
Rose colored macules
Weeping itch
Raspberry tongue
Painful episodes or vaso-occlusive
crisis
Butterfly rash
Risus sardonicus, lockjaw
3cs= coughing, choking, cyanosis
Malodorous, thin yellow discharge
Karyotype in females, webbed neck,
gonadal dysgenesis
Rose spots in abdomen
Oculo-masticatory myorhythmia