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Real life Dracula disease can result in vomiting, hallucinations, and aversion to garlic
Count Dracula might have been an invention of the author Bram Stoker, but there is a real-life disease called acute intermittent porphyria that somewhat mimics the symptoms of horror’s scariest species.
The Halloween season and all of its strange traditions are officially here. In between picking up your boo basket and guzzling down the latest Starbucks release, why not digest some spooky information about the real-world disease that some scholars think inspired tales of vampires, bloodsuckers, and everything in between.
Acute intermittent porphyria is a rare disorder
Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is a rare metabolic disorder that inhibits the body’s production of heme, a vital component found in your red blood cells.
The disease, and many similar porphyrias, can spark countless troubling symptoms that range from nausea to excruciating pain, Medicover Genetics said. Those suffering might also experience red or brown urine, constipation, diarrhea, muscle weakness, paralysis, seizures, breathing problems, palpitations, and high blood pressure.
Acute intermittent porphyria also brings its own mental health symptoms like anxiety, confusion, hallucinations, paranoia, and disorientation.
The reason acute intermittent porphyria is often linked with vampirism is because of the correlations between its symptoms and the characteristics we have come to know and love from the toothy fictional characters.
For instance, sensitivity to sunlight can cause facial disfigurement, blackened skin, and hair growth, resulting in the patient resembling a vampire. Their gums could also recede, giving the illusion of fangs, and sulfur-rich foods like garlic can worsen the condition.
Did the ‘vampire disease’ inspire terrifying tales?
Stories of vampires have been passed down for hundreds and hundreds of years, so it’s difficult to say whether Acute intermittent porphyria was the cause of such tales.
Though we now know that the symptoms are related to a medical condition, people centuries ago were used to attributing clinical problems to things that go bump in the night.
While such a scientific explanation does remove the mystery and magnetism of characters like Damon Salvatore (Vampire Diaries) and Edward Cullen (Twilight), it does go to show that even the most mythological phenomena could have foundations in science.
