Taiwan’s CDC Imagines Diseases As Dangerously Beautiful People
By Mikelle Leow, 19 Feb 2021
Image via Taiwan Centers for Disease Control
These characters are the very definition of beautiful but deadly.
Since 2018, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been envisioning diseases as anime characters, drawing upon viruses’ distinct features to dream up facial features and outfits. With the prevalent COVID-19 pandemic, the health agency refreshed this series to cover more diseases, which has since captured the attention of international media outlets.
Diseases like Zika, the Ebola virus disease, and the stomach flu have been personified as cover models of a magazine called Disease, with health tips as blurbs. Aside from a well-meaning character named ‘Quarantine’, the figures are all imagined as handsome devils and femme fatales.
While some might wince at the thought of waking up to a new infection each month, the Taiwanese CDC has been compiling the illustrations into calendars to create awareness.
As for why the diseases are being illustrated this way, one of the artists commissioned for the project, Chiyou, explains that the objective is for the general public to perceive the illnesses outside a textbook context so that they can understand them better.
Chiyou shares that the task to personify COVID-19 was the most challenging one yet, but he ended up coming up with a “mysterious and unpredictable” computer hacker with “always changing” faces.
The character’s ability to shapeshift means he or she can take on different forms and inhabit countries “the moment people let their guard down.” The figure is pictured with several multi-tasking hands, mimicking the spikes of the coronavirus.
Artist HANa, who took a month to design her syphilis and rubella characters, describes that it was especially difficult blending the ugly aspects of the diseases into “cute” appearances. For the syphilis model, she decided to draw a shepherdess—based on the sexually-transmitted disease’s name—with a sexual organ on her corset. The shepherdess’s clothing is adorned with red accessories to represent a rash.
Take a look at some of the illustrations below, but don’t stare for too long—they can be contagious.
Taiwan's CDC has created anime villain renditions of various diseases, and I just... *blink* pic.twitter.com/pqY8ID6Pss
— Cassandra Khaw (@casskhaw) February 18, 2021
Zika Virus
【DISEASE│ #疾病擬人】
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, October 1, 2020
採訪、撰文|超疾編
有在關注DISEASE的粉絲朋友們,應該都對女王 #登革熱 跟人氣女團 #日本腦炎 不陌生吧!
本期的特別來賓同樣是 #黃病毒家族 的成員,一起歡迎充滿熱帶風情的火熱女子─...
Rubella
【DISEASE│ #疾病擬人】
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, September 17, 2020
採訪、撰文|超疾編
還記得去年跟大家介紹過的 #麻疹 嗎?
今天的來賓常常被誤認成麻疹,大家知道是誰嗎?
一起歡迎傻傻分不清楚的─...
MERS
【DISEASE│ #疾病擬人】
採訪、撰文|超疾編
江湖傳聞,8年前6月的某天,一名神祕男子現身阿拉伯半島,見過他真面目的人,都接連出現發燒、咳嗽、呼吸困難的症狀……
讓我們有請本期來賓~~
充滿異域風情的神秘男子─...Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, July 30, 2020
COVID-19
【DISEASE│...
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, October 15, 2020
Quarantine
【DISEASE│...
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, July 16, 2020
The Plague
【DISEASE│ #疾病擬人】
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, August 13, 2020
採訪、撰文|超疾編
這位姐姐看起來不好惹(((゚Д゚;)))
她,曾多次重創人類文明,造成千萬人死亡......
她的另一個名字,你一定聽過!
她,就是讓人聞風喪膽的「黑死病」─...
Influenza
Posted by 量子生物科技有限公司 on Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Ebola Virus Disease
【DISEASE│ #疾病擬人】
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, September 24, 2020
採訪、撰文|超疾編
說到近幾年出現的嚴重傳染病,除了...
Acute Hepatitis
【DISEASE│ #疾病擬人】
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, October 8, 2020
採訪、撰文|超疾編
去年我們邀請了女團 #日本腦炎,今年 #超疾編 請到了電競圈的閃亮新星,由5位風格迥異的成員組成,閱讀本期雜誌前,請大家務必要小!心!肝!
歡迎人氣戰隊─...
Viral Gastroenteritis
Posted by 量子生物科技有限公司 on Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Legionnaires’ Disease
【DISEASE│ #疾病擬人】
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, August 6, 2020
採訪、撰文|超疾編
有人說,男人要經過歲月的沉澱,才越有魅力。
一起用尖叫聲歡迎本次的來賓!
慵懶又不失優雅的帥氣大叔─...
Lyme Disease
【DISEASE│ #疾病擬人】
Posted by 疾病管制署 - 1922防疫達人 on Thursday, August 27, 2020
採訪、撰文|超疾編
還記得去年介紹過的 #恙蟲病 姐姐嗎?
今天要跟大家介紹她的好朋友兼車友!
歡迎草叢中的狙擊手─...
[via Boing Boing, images via Taiwan Centers for Disease Control]