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Published by The Vampire Network on the 27th of July 2017I, Vampire: Exploring Connections Between Vampires of Myth and Modern-Day Blood Vampires: Part IV
Some pierce with their eyes, others with fangs, some are reactionary, others are rebels, but all are disturbingly close to the mortals they prey on. I can think of no other monsters who are so receptive. Vampires are neither inhuman nor non-human nor all-too-human, they are simply more alive than they should be.
NINA AUERBACH, Our Vampires, Ourselves
Part IV: Flesh and Fangs
Accelerated healing
Another classical feature of vampire mythology is significantly accelerated wound healing. Many modern day Blood Vampires also report approximately 2-3 fold faster healing of both major and superficial injuries vs. non-vampires.
Sialic acid plays a critical role in all processes which are involved in wound healing, and alterations in its levels and/or forms impairs or accelerates wound healing in human beings. Thus, it seems entirely possible that further evolved vampire-specific forms of sialic acid or simply an increase in its levels may foster further accelerated wound healing. Elevated levels of sialic acid in the skin are also associated with production of oxygen free radicals and allergic reactions to sunlight, both of which have been documented in Blood Vampires in much greater prevalence and severity. Therefore elevated sialic acid levels may on one hand confer accelerated wound healing, but on the other severe sun allergies in Blood Vampires, which likely formed the basis of the descriptions of these phenomena in vampire myths and legends.
Dental malformations
The prevailing impulse among vampires, even among some modern day ones, is to explain away the typically described dental malformations, pointy and sometimes elongates canine (eye) and/or other teeth of vampires, as a myth derived from lack of understanding of the process of decay of human bodies. Normally, after death, the gums recede, thus giving the appearance of elongated teeth to any individual, vampire or not. However, this is just one of the likely origin of the vampire’s teeth. There are other possible explanations.
Pernicious anemia, a type of autoimmune vitamin B12 deficiency anemia, is characterized by inflamed and receding gums in life, which make the teeth of affected individuals appear long and pointed – vampire-like. Pernicious anemia is deadly unless vitamin B12 is supplemented via intramuscular injection, and the only treatment prior to the 1930s was ingestion of very large quantities of blood (replaced by ingestion of liver extract 1930s-1960s, then intramuscular injection in 1963 when vitamin B12 was finally isolated).
Also, many Blood Vampires of today tell stories (often supported by childhood pictures) of being born with drastically “malformed” teeth, i.e. sharp, pointed canine teeth, which were filed down and rounded and/or their position “corrected” by family dentists as soon as possible. Others, born before days of invasive cosmetic dentistry or in places where it had not yet taken root have retained these “abnormal” teeth into adulthood. Instead of discounting these accounts, as is most often the case, verifying their authenticity, which is often possible, points to the idea that classical “vampire teeth” are an integral part of the living vampire phenotype and not of a mythical creature which never existed.
Pale and cold skin
Perhaps the one mythical vampire characteristic many modern day Blood Vampires easily recognize themselves in is the classically pale skin, which is cold to touch, until they consume blood when it becomes flushed and warm.
In part, this is explained by the vampire’s legendary photo-sensitivity, which is shared by historical and modern vampires alike. However, avoidance of sunlight does not entirely explain vampire pallor nor does it explain the documented decreased body temperature among Blood Vampires. A partial explanation may lay in the decreased basal metabolic rate (see above). Heat is generated during the process of ATP production as its byproduct. If the rate of ATP production is decreased, heat production is also decreased.
An additional explanation likely lies in the prevalence of anemia among Blood Vampires. Individuals with severe anemia are typically pale and cold to touch because blood flow is diverted away from inessential organs (like the skin) and to major organs of the body (brain, heart, liver and kidneys). A recent published survey among living vampires reported a significantly higher prevalence of anemia vs. the general population. Our survey reports that 36% of Blood Vampires have been diagnosed with anemia (vs. <5% in the developed world, 20->40% in some parts of the developing world for non-vampires). Interestingly, among vampires, the common human iron-deficiency anemia was less common and rare autoimmune-mediated forms of anemia (ex. pernicious anemia (13.5% vs. 0.1% in non-vampires) and autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) (12% vs. 0.2% in non-vampires)) were much more common correlating with abnormally high prevalence of autoimmune disease (62% vs. ~3.2% in non-vampires) in general among vampires. To this day, there is no effective treatment for AIHA. Immunosuppression (including splenectomy) and whole blood or erythrocyte-enriched blood transfusions are given. Outcomes for pernicious anemia were dismal before 1963 when vitamin B12 was isolated as causative agent, this type of anemia was universally deadly (hence the name), and could only be treated by frequent transfusion or ingestion of large quantities of blood or liver extract. Due to destruction of cells which line the stomach and produce important digestive enzymes, most individuals with pernicious anemia also have severe problems digesting conventional solid food.
It is easy to imagine how individuals with either of these two types of anemia, pale and cold to touch, with severe digestive issues making them unable to consume food, and both compelled to drink blood to survive and visibly altered by it (warmed and flushed due to a reaction known as reactive hyperemia, a transient increase in blood flow to previously ischemic tissues) would have been proclaimed vampires in centuries past, and classified as Modern Vampires today. It is also easy to imagine how they would have withdrawn from the normal flow of human life, likely to become completely nocturnal, like most individuals living on the fringes of human society throughout history.
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The Vampire Network (2017)
