| A medical condition that makes some people falsely believe that they are real vampires
Of all the disorders and diseases even loosely linked to vampirism, the
most bizarre must be porphyria. It is a rare hereditary blood disease; its
symptoms so closely match the myths associated with our modern
conception of vampirism it's eerie. A victim of porphyria cannot produce
heme, a major and vital component of red blood. Today, this disease is
treatable with regular injections of heme into the body. However, as
little as fifty years ago, this treatment was unavailable and the disease
unknown. In the past, a porphyria sufferer would show symptoms that
include:
- Extreme sensitivity to sunlight
- Sores and scars that break open and will not heal properly
- Excessive hair growth
- Tightening of skin around lips and gums (which would make the incisors
more prominent)
This disease would likely cause the victim to only go out at night, in
order to avoid the painful rays of the sun. In addition, while garlic
stimulates the production of heme in a healthy person, it would only cause
the symptoms of porphyria to become more painfully severe. Porphyria was
eventually discarded by scientists as a reasonable explanation of the
vampire myth that has pervaded our history. Although vampire accounts of
the past bear little resemblance to the dashing figure we romanticize
today, these qualities may have contributed to our look at the vampire in
film and fiction: pale skin, extended incisors, even the fear of the sun!
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