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A Straight Dope Classic from Cecil's storehouse of human knowledge
7-May-1999
Dear
Cecil:
A few years back, in your book More of the Straight Dope, you repeated the story
that vampire legends might have been based on victims of the disease porphyria, which
causes disfigurement and is a result of certain blood deficiencies. This hypothesis was
invented by a biochemist named David Dolphin. It doesn't hold up under scientific
scrutiny, since drinking blood doesn't actually bring victims any relief, nor do victims
crave blood since they don't intuitively know they have a blood deficiency (it was not
known that that caused the disease until relatively recently). However, the story has
become very popular and has caused untold suffering for victims of porphyria, who have
been branded "vampires" and taunted because of it. You might want to address
this in your column when you've got the time. --Ed Heil, Okemos, MI
Dear Ed:
I could try to weasel on this one, but I may as well 'fess up. I failed to check out this
story before sticking it in my book. (Hey, the guy was making a speech to a scientific
society! It was reported in the New York Times!) As a result I was taken in by an
explanation that was superficially plausible but on examination turned out to be complete
crap.
In 1985 biochemist David Dolphin proposed that the vampires of folklore may actually have
been people suffering from porphyria, a group of rare, largely hereditary blood diseases.
According to the Times account of his remarks:
(1) Porphyria victims are extraordinarily sensitive to sunlight. Even mild exposure can
cause severe disfigurement. Facial skin may scar, the nose and fingers may fall off, and
the lips and gums may become so taut that the teeth project like fangs.
(2) To avoid sunlight, people with serious cases of porphyria go out only at night, just
like Dracula.
(3) Today porphyria can be treated with injections of blood products. Centuries ago,
porphyria victims might have sought to treat themselves by drinking blood.
(4) Porphyria is inherited, but the symptoms may not manifest themselves until brought on
by stress. Suppose a sibling with an active case of the disease bites you to quench his
thirst for blood. Très stressful, non? Suddenly your own latent porphyria
goes critical and you start growing fangs too.
(5) Garlic contains a chemical that worsens porphyria symptoms, causing sufferers to avoid
it. Just like vampires.
Great story, eh? The media, including me, went nuts, and today everybody "knows"
that porphyria patients are vampires--to the distress of people who actually have these
diseases.
Just one problem. People with porphyria aren't vampires, and there's no reason to think
that the vampires of folklore had the disease (or existed at all). To respond point by
point:
(1) Porphyria comprises seven separate disorders. Skin problems are a fairly common
symptom, but only the rarest form--congenital erythropoietic porphyria--causes severe
disfigurement. Just 200 cases of this disease have been diagnosed, surely too few to
account for the widespread belief in vampires. In any case, alleged vampires exhumed in
the 18th century typically weren't disfigured but appeared as they had in life (except for
being dead, of course).
(2) The idea that vampires abhor sunlight was an invention of fiction writers. In Europe
during the 18th and 19th centuries, vampires were sometimes reported to have been sighted
during the day. Bram Stoker's Dracula was deathly pale, but folkloric vampires, in the
Balkans anyway, were said to be ruddy-faced due to blood consumption.
(3) Porphyria victims don't crave blood. Drinking blood will not alleviate their symptoms,
nor has there ever been a general belief that it would. The blood chemicals porphyria
victims need do not survive digestion.
(4) In light of the preceding, the scenario described in point #4 above is unlikely.
(5) No one has proved that garlic worsens porphyria.
Professor Dolphin never published a formal paper describing his theory. When I phoned, he
didn't wish to speak to me and would say only that "it was just speculation" and
that "I haven't worked in this area for many years."
The practice of trying to match diseases with well-known figures in history or folklore
has a long and not entirely reputable history. (Porphyria, for one, has also been blamed
for werewolves.) Maybe next time we'll know better.
--CECIL ADAMS
The Straight Dope / Questions or
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