Rare diseases · Sign or symptom

Fish odor

Fishy odor

HP:0410020

What it means

Body odor characterized by an offensive body odor and the smell of rotting fish due to the excessive excretion of trimethylamine (TMA) in the urine, sweat, and breath of affected individuals.

Rare diseases that can present with this2

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Also called: Fishy body odor · Fishy body odour · Fishy odour

Fish odor

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This page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.