Folklore describing deathly pale vampires that avoid
sunlight and loathe garlic may originate, at least in part, in a rare illness called
porphyria, a Canadian doctor says.
People with extreme forms of this hereditary ailment are so sensitive to light that they
can suffer a sunburn on a heavily overcast day, says Dr. Michael Moss, a porphyria
specialist and head of pathology at Dalhousie University and the Queen Elizabeth II Health
Sciences Centre in Halifax.
``They would tend to stay out of the light and only venture out at night,'' he said.
``In the most severe form, which is very rare, their teeth and bones become fluorescent -
they would shine pink or red,'' Moss said. ``They might actually look horrific.''
Even today, meeting such a person on Halloween night would produce a jolt.
Porphyria sufferers are also sickened by garlic, Moss noted.
The disorder disrupts production of a compound that gives blood its characteristic red
colour and the ability to carry oxygen. Garlic makes the condition much worse, Moss said.
``Many of my patients with acute porphyria do respond adversely to garlic.''
Even the vampire's traditional taste for blood may originate with porphyria, since a large
injection of a blood derivative called hematin seems to ease extreme attacks of the
disease, he said. It's possible that taking a blood meal could have a similar, beneficial
result, Moss added.
Centuries ago, in more superstitious times, these very real characteristics of porphyria
could have been interpreted as evidence of vampirism, he said.
According to legend, the vampire rises from its grave and roves by night, sucking life
from victims who then fall sick and waste away. A vampire can render itself invisible or
assume various shapes at will, but can be kept at bay by garlic.
Destruction of the monster traditionally required exhumation and ``disruption'' of the
vampire's undead body. In some cultures this was done by hammering a wooden stake into the
corpse, while in others the heart, lungs or other organs were removed and burned.
Experts believe characteristics widely attributed to vampires are the result of many
cultural streams flowing together.
Bram Stoker's classic horror novel Dracula, which turns 100 this year, was based partly on
a real person - Vlad Tepes, a savagely cruel prince known as Dracula, meaning ``son of a
dragon,'' who lived in the late Middle Ages in what is now Romania.
Researchers in the United States have shown that the wasting away sometimes attributed to
the work of a vampire was probably tuberculosis. People living in close quarters tended to
catch the disease one after another, and they commonly believed a vampire was draining
their strength.
Porphyria is actually a group of related disorders, Moss said. Acute abdominal pain is a
common symptom and the ailment can also trigger severe nerve and brain problems.
It's thought that Britain's King George III had porphyria, which temporarily poisoned his
nervous system, attacking the brain and causing delirium and mental disturbance.
In many cases, the condition is mild and people may not even know they have it. That makes
it difficult to determine how many Canadians may be affected, Moss said, adding that he's
aware of more than 40 cases in Nova Scotia alone.
Contents copyright © 1996, 1997, The Toronto Star.
