I WANT TO SUCK YOUR BLOOD!

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would do a couple of posts in regards to the subject. I thought how in the heck could Molecular Biology relate to Halloween? There is no way right? WRONG!

Vampires can be traced back to Romanian prince Vlad Tepes (1431-1476), who fought for freedom from the Ottomans. Most of his methods of execution were sadistic like impaling his enemies on stakes or burning them to death. From this ideology, it is where Bram Stoker got inspiration for his novel Dracula. Historically, vampires are immortal creatures that feed off the blood of the living to survive. The first recorded accounts of vampires were during the Middle Ages in Europe. If something terrible happened to a family or town, whether it be infectious disease or crop failure, they would blame it on vampires. Also during the winter, a body takes longer to decompose, which caused bodies to bloat and blood to run out of the mouth, thus vampirism! However, historically they are thought to be pale, deathly afraid of sunlight, can transform into bats, and can be killed with stakes and holy water. Today they are just a bunch of pansies that sparkle in the sunlight. But what if this historical ideology bares some truth in reality?
 

The answer is it does. There are two diseases that mimic vampirism. They are Porphyria cutanea tarda(PCT) and Renfield’s syndrome.

According to the article, “Cutaneous porphyrias part I: epidemiology, pathogenesis, presentation, diagnosis, and histopathology ,” porphyria is a group of disorders that are characterized by defects in heme production, which results in a buildup of toxic heme precursors. The symptoms of the diseases include: photosensitivity, severe burning, abscesses, and scarring. They are categorized into categories based on whether the toxic precursors build up in the liver or bone marrow. The kind that builds up in the liver are subdivided into two categories: acute and chronic, and the specific kind that we are talking about is chronic.

Porphyria cutanea tarda can either be familial, developed, and in exceptional cases it occurs in patients with a porphyrinogen III decarboxylase (UROD) gene), which affects multiple family members indicating a genetic element. A flaw in UROD, which drives the fifth step in heme synthesis causes PCT. Diminished UROD activity escalates the production of symptom-causing carboxylic porphyrins. Porphyrins in the skin absorb ultraviolet A, producing peroxides that gives rise to oxidative damage and inflammation. PCT is a multifactorial disease, alcohol, Hepatitis C, and HIV are commonly associated.

So intolerance to sunlight, check! What about Renfield’s syndrome?

According to “Vampirism-Clinical Vampirism: Reinfield’s Syndrome,” Renfield’s syndrome or clinical vampirism is commonly found in men. The patients with this ailment are often diagnosed with schizophrenia or one of the paraphilias based on their behavioral exhibitions, such as illusions of being a vampire, fetishes, and habitual blood drinking. Renfield’s syndrome develops in stages from licking one’s own blood (autovampirism) to consuming animal blood, to zoophagia(ingesting live animals), to actual vampirism. Blood drinkers accept the belief that blood provides them with the life force that they need for survival, and often indulge in the ideology that it will help them achieve immortality.  

Blood drinking schizophrenics, check!

So vampires do exist! Just not as one entity. Joking…So, what happens when you combine Porphyria with Renfield’s disease? I am curious if there has ever been a documented case. I wonder if there are any genetic factors linking the two. It could explain any sightings of vampires in history, and explain some of the ideology surrounding the myth when it comes to dislike of sunlight and blood drinking.

Tune in next week for werewolf talk!

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8e162219-3436-4d30-b1a3-62ed87be9282%40sessionmgr115&vid=5&hid=113

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=48ec0d81-d9cc-41d1-8c17-6f9018987534%40sessionmgr110&hid=113

http://www.livescience.com/5924-real-science-history-vampires.html