Page 33 - Reading Success B7

Count Dracula, the Transylvanian vampire, has haunted the imagination of the
world for fewer than 100 years. However, the horrible bloodsucking creature has

lurked in the legends of Europe since the ninth century. The fanged creature came
out of the shadows in 1897 in the pages of a novel titled Dracula. It seems that

Dracula is based on a real person, a tyrant named Vlad. Vlad, was nicknamed the
Impaler and was also known as Draculaea or “son of the Devil.” Vlad ruled a

land called Wallachia from 1456 to 1462. In that time, he is said to have executed
40,000 people by impaling them on long stakes . No one was immune from his

brutal whim.

However, like many stories that have been absorbed into folklore, the vampire

legend has some medically related backing also. During the late Middle Ages,

interbreeding among eastern European nobles led to various genetic disorders,
including a rare disease known as erythropoietic protoporphyria. The disease itself
was not diagnosed until the 19th century, but records of the time have convinced

doctors that many so called vampires were in fact victims of this disease. Since

sufferers rarely lived long, most would have been children.

The disorder makes the body produce too much porphrin - a substance basic to

red blood cells. This resulted in redness of the skin, eyes, and teeth, a receding
upper lip, and cracks in the skin that bled when exposed to light. Doctors then

could only treat the condition by locking the patients away during the day and by
encouraging them to drink blood to replace what they lost by bleeding. In the end,

however, it was probably the rumors of these nocturnal blood drinkers that led to
the creation of these vampire stories in the region and in our time today.

Main Idea

What is the main idea of this story?

a. the legend of Count Dracula
b. some possible origins of the vampire myth

c. the symptoms of the disease erythropoietic protoporphyria
d. the life of Vlad the Impaler

36_Reading Success B 7