2008, Number 38
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Med Univer 2008; 10 (38)
Vlad Tepes Dracul: Dracula and photophobia
González TJL, García GCJ
Language: Spanish
References: 12
Page: 47-49
PDF size: 250.55 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Bram Stoker´s novel Dracula, published in 1897, popularized vampirism and at once the conducts attributed to these figures were recognized. Among them, one of the attributes of vampires is that they suffer photosensibility and photophobia. The inspiration to create the story of this vampire is in the legend on Vlad Tepes Dracul, who indeed was the prince of Valaquia, a village located in the former Transylvania, today Romania. It is suspected that prince Vlad suffered an erythropoiethic porphiria, which could be the reason for the development of certain peculiar characteristics of the vampires. In this essay the clinical characteristics the of the mentioned disease are correlated to those of a “vampire”, emphasizing the photosensibility and the photophobia caused by the porphyrins.
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