shiver when they see a stethoscope or a nurse with an injection.
There are other related phobias like nosophobia—the irrational fear of contracting a disease. It may be HIV, tuberculosis, cancer or even a simple flu. Nosophobia may also be connected to mysophobia or germaphobia. These phobias pertain to the fear of germs or of dirt and contamination and results in an obsession for cleanliness.
Some people who escape from all this, develop hemophobia or an extreme terror of blood. Recently, I was in the Maldives and was snorkeling with a friend. As we emerged from the turquoise waters, my friend noticed a cut on the finger, enough to cause blood to ooze out and fill a couple of tissues. The executive in charge of the beach came running with a first aid box but couldn’t help at all because he fainted on seeing the blood.
Often, irrational fears or phobias relate to animals. Arachnophobia is a very well known phobia that makes people petrified of spiders. One with such a phobia can scream and run at the sight of not just a tiny spider but even at the touch of a web. I know of somebody who changed their house because the house had many spiders.