Autoimmune Diseases
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50 free Autoimmune Diseases trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
An autoimmune disease begins when the body's defenses mistake healthy tissue for an invader. Doctors recognize dozens of these conditions, and between them they can affect almost any organ, from the skin and joints to the nerves and glands. Many are hard to diagnose, most last for life, and several are far more common than people assume. This quiz covers the subject from several angles. Some questions ask which condition causes a telltale symptom, or which part of the body a named illness targets. Others deal with the science of why the immune system misfires, the treatments used to rein it in, the doctors behind the famous names, and the singers, athletes and presidents who have been diagnosed. The questions suit nursing and biology students revising immunology, people living with a diagnosis, and anyone who is simply curious about how the body works. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even from the ones you miss. It is a trivia quiz, not medical advice.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The autoimmune disease lupus takes its name from the Latin word for which animal?
Wolf
Wolf is what lupus means in Latin: in the 13th century the disease's facial rash was thought to resemble the animal's bite.
Q 02Which protein, found in wheat, barley and rye, triggers the immune reaction behind celiac disease?
Gluten
Gluten cannot be made safe by any pill: the only treatment for celiac disease is a diet that cuts it out for life.
Q 03Which singer, who has lupus, received a kidney from her friend, the actress Francia Raisa, in 2017?
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez came close to disaster in the operation: one of her arteries ruptured, and surgeons replaced it with a vein taken from her leg.
Q 04Which rare neurological disorder did the singer Céline Dion announce she had been diagnosed with in December 2022?
Stiff-person syndrome
Stiff-person syndrome affects about one person in a million, and its painful muscle spasms can be set off by a sudden sound or touch.
Q 05In type 1 diabetes, the immune system destroys the pancreatic cells that make which hormone?
Insulin
Insulin was first injected into a patient in January 1922, when a teenager named Leonard Thompson lay dying of diabetes in a Toronto hospital.
Q 06Which US president was diagnosed with Addison's disease in 1947, a fact made public only years after his death?
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was 30 and in his first term in Congress when a doctor at the London Clinic made the diagnosis.
Q 07Which group makes up about four in five of all people living with autoimmune diseases?
Women
Women account for some 80% of patients, and for many the illness can be triggered around puberty or pregnancy.
Q 08Which tennis champion withdrew from the 2011 US Open after being diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome?
Venus Williams
Venus Williams pulled out before her second-round match against Sabine Lisicki; the condition brings fatigue and muscle and joint pain.
Q 09Which skin condition did Michael Jackson first publicly say he had during a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey?
Vitiligo
Vitiligo is thought to arise when the immune system destroys the cells that make skin pigment; Jackson covered his patches with pale makeup.
Q 10Which British singer of Kiss from a Rose has facial scars left by a form of lupus?
Seal
Seal's scars come from discoid lupus erythematosus, a type of the disease that affects the skin.
Q 11Multiple sclerosis strips nerve fibers of which fatty insulating layer that helps them carry electrical signals?
Myelin
Myelin damage leaves scars called plaques on the brain and spinal cord, and those scars are the sclerosis in the disease's name.
Q 12The classic lupus rash across the cheeks and bridge of the nose is commonly named after which insect?
Butterfly
Butterfly rash spares the creases that run from the nose to the corners of the mouth, which helps give it its winged outline.
Q 13Kim Kardashian has spoken publicly about which skin condition, marked by red patches topped with white scales?
Psoriasis
Psoriasis puts skin on fast-forward: its cells are replaced every 3 to 5 days rather than the usual 28 to 30.
Q 21Celiac disease flattens the tiny finger-like villi that absorb nutrients along the lining of which organ?
Small intestine
Small intestine biopsies, tiny samples snipped from the lining, are used alongside blood tests to confirm the diagnosis.
Q 22Which autoimmune condition, diagnosed in President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara, can make the eyes bulge?
Graves' disease
Graves' disease gave Barbara Bush double vision in 1989; her husband's diagnosis followed in 1991, after he developed an irregular heartbeat.
Q 23Addison's disease leaves the body short of cortisol after the immune system attacks which glands?
Adrenal
Q 14Hashimoto's disease, first described by a Japanese physician in 1912, slowly destroys which gland?
Thyroid
Thyroid tissue is gradually destroyed, which makes Hashimoto's the most common cause of an underactive gland in developed countries.
Q 15Which autoimmune disorder usually strikes the same joints on both sides of the body, most often the wrists and hands?
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis brings morning stiffness that can last for hours, far longer than the brief stiffness of wear-and-tear joints.
Q 16Jada Pinkett Smith revealed in 2018 that she had which autoimmune condition, a cause of patchy hair loss?
Alopecia areata
Alopecia areata usually leaves round bald spots about the size of a coin, and in more than half of sudden patchy cases the hair regrows within a year.
Q 17The prefix auto- in the word autoimmune comes from the Greek word for what?
Self
Self is the meaning of the Greek autos: an autoimmune disease is immunity aimed at the patient's own body.
Q 18Which star of Married... with Children and Dead to Me announced in 2021 that she has multiple sclerosis?
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate stepped away from on-screen acting after the diagnosis, and in 2024 began a podcast about the illness with fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
Q 19Which Y-shaped proteins, made to tag germs for destruction, wrongly lock onto healthy tissue in autoimmune diseases?
Antibodies
Antibodies directed against the body's own proteins are called autoantibodies, and blood tests that detect them help doctors work out which illness is at fault.
Q 20People with lupus are often told to avoid which everyday trigger that can bring on rashes and flare-ups?
Sunlight
Sunlight carries ultraviolet radiation, which is known to worsen lupus rashes; sensitivity to light is one of the signs doctors look for in diagnosis.
Adrenal failure can also darken the skin, especially in places that are regularly rubbed, which is a telltale sign of Addison's.
Q 24Pernicious anemia develops when an immune attack on stomach cells stops the body absorbing which nutrient?
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is stockpiled so well that a healthy body holds three to five years' worth, so the attack can go unnoticed for a long time.
Q 25In which organ behind the breastbone are T cells that would attack the body's own proteins weeded out?
Thymus
Thymus tissue does most of its work early in life: the organ grows until puberty, then shrinks in size and activity.
Q 26Multiple sclerosis becomes steadily more common the farther people live from which line on the globe?
The equator
The equator pattern is partly explained by weaker ultraviolet light at high latitudes, though the Sami and Inuit remain at low risk.
Q 27What term describes a period when a long-term illness such as lupus goes quiet and its symptoms ease or vanish?
Remission
Remission is what treatment aims for, because most autoimmune diseases are chronic and can be controlled but not definitively cured.
Q 28Prednisone, widely prescribed to calm autoimmune flare-ups, belongs to which class of anti-inflammatory drugs?
Corticosteroids
Corticosteroids taken for long periods can make the body temporarily lose the ability to produce its own, leaving patients dependent on the drug.
Q 29Which sleep disorder is thought to arise when the immune system destroys brain cells that make the chemical orexin?
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy of this kind involves the loss of only about 70,000 neurons, an attack thought to be triggered in some people by H1N1 flu.
Q 30Which autoimmune condition blocks signals from nerves to muscles, causing drooping eyelids and double vision?
Myasthenia gravis
Myasthenia gravis weakness gets worse during physical activity and eases after rest; in some people it stays limited to the eyes.