- 10 Jul 2004
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The rare illness you speak of is called porphyria. The disease disrupts the production of heme. People with extreme cases of it can be so sensitive to sunlight that they can get a sunburn through heavy cloud cover, causing them to avoid sunlight (although the idea that vampires are harmed by sunlight is from modern fiction and not the original beliefs). Certain forms of porphyria are also associated with neurological symptoms, which can create psychiatric disorders. The idea that porphyria sufferers crave the heme in human blood, or that the consumption of blood might ease the symptoms of porphyria, are based on a huge misunderstanding of the disease. There is no evidence to suggest that porphyria had anything to do with the development of the original vampire folklore. So, I'm sorry, but vampirism is a myth and nothing more.Hyde_is_my_anti-drug said:There is an actual medical condition that is like Vampirism, people that have it must drink blood and other human fluids to stay alive/keep their skin from pratically roting off. I forgot the name of it. It's very rare of course