Halloween Special
|
Blood
More Halloween Health:
|
Myth-diagnosis:
Vampirism or Porphyria?
What creature has very
pale skin, has teeth of an unusual color, sports long fingernails
and only comes out at night? Everyone knows it's a vampire.
Or
is it?
The vampire legend probably arose from the appearance and
behavior of people suffering from porphyria, a disease that
is actually a group of related disorders. All variants of
the disease are caused by overproduction of porphyrins-chemicals
that do not normally accumulate in the body. Although symptoms
are many, most notable is extreme sensitivity to sunlight.
Porphyria is rare, especially
outside Eastern Europe, and difficult to diagnose. Symptoms
of the disease mimic those of many other ailments: They include
insomnia, anxiety, skin lesions, nausea and muscle weakness;
some types of porphyria also cause excessive nail growth and
receding gums. Exposure to sunlight causes the skin to become
so fragile it breaks easily, and people with porphyria avoid
being outside at any time during the day-hence the idea that
vampires fear sun and roam the earth only at night.
Read more about porphria in Lifespan's Health Encyclopedia.
Into the light:
The vampire throughout history
Back
|
