Porphyria is a rare hereditary blood
disease with symptoms that are uncannily similar to what we now perceive as the classic characteristics of a vampire. People
with this disorder cannot produce heme, an essential component of red blood. This makes them extremely sensitive to sunlight,
develop sores and scars that do not heal properly, grow excessive amounts of hair, become allergic to garlic (stimulates heme
production and can turn a mild case of porphryia into a severe and painful one) and have tightened skin around the lips and
gums, thus making the incisors more conspicuous.
Some psychologists in modern times recognize a disorder called
clinical vampirism (or Renfield Syndrome, from Dracula's insect-eating henchman, Renfield, in the novel by Bram
Stoker) in which the victim is obsessed with drinking blood, either from animals or humans.
Renfield's Syndrome is described as having four stages:
- a trauma or "critical incident" in childhood in which the patient discovers
that the taste and sight of blood is "exciting" or attractive; "autovampirism",
- the drinking of one's own blood (autohemophagia);
- "zoophagia", or the consumption of blood from animals;
- "true vampirism", in which the patient must have human blood, and may resort
to stealing blood from medical facilities, or serial murder
xeroderma pigmentosum-About 200 people
in the United States, or two to four persons in about 1 million live births, suffer from xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare genetic
defect that causes extreme sensitivity to the sun's ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet light disrupts normal cell functioning in
people who have the disorder, causing cancerous cell changes. Although there are various degrees of the disorder, most persons
with xeroderma pigmentosum acquire severe sunburn after any sun exposure, although using sunscreen and layering clothes sometimes
protects against the sun's negative effects.
Dr. Kenneth H. Kraemer, research dermatologist at the National
Cancer Institute in Bethesda, says patients with the disease have a thousandfold increase in their chances of getting skin
cancer compared to the average person. The first skin cancer may develop before a person is 10 years old, and many other skin
cancers may occur in the future.
Xeroderma Pigmentosum Society (www.xps.org) is a nonprofit organization that sponsors Camp Sundown,
a nighttime camp held in the summer that is open to xeroderma pigmentosum patients and their families. Sufferers of other
light-sensitive conditions also are welcome.
Anaemia is a disease of the blood in which the red-cell count
is extremely low. The symptoms of anaemia include a pale complexion, fatigue, fainting spells, shortness of breath and digestive
disorders - all indications of an inadequate oxygen supply (red blood cells transport oxygen throughout the body).
To a society gripped by the ever-present fear of vampires lurking in the shadows,
the sight of a severely anaemic person was a sure sign that they were a vampire victim who was in the process of turning into.
Catalepsy is a dysfunction of the nervous
system that causes a slowing down of the bodies regulatory functions, so much so that to the untrained eye the person appears
dead. Sufferers also lose voluntary muscle control, their bodies becoming rigid for sometimes days on end. They can see and
hear but cannot move or speak. Most often, they were hastly buried in the next 24 hours before they had a chance to recover.
Sleep paralysis is a condition in which someone,
most often lying in a supine position, about to drop off to sleep, or just upon waking from sleep realizes that s/he is unable
to move, or speak, or cry out. This may last a few seconds or several moments, occasionally longer. People frequently report
feeling a "presence" that is often described as malevolent, threatening, or evil. An intense sense of dread and terror is
very common.
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