The Real-Life Diseases That Spread The Vampire Myth

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Diseases were frightening things before the age of medical science. Plagues and epidemics could appear without warning and cause death and misery. Other diseases - perhaps passed on by animals or from genes lying dormant in their own bodies - could cause ailments that defied explanation.

People turned instead to the supernatural. Some of these diseases helped spawn one of the most enduring and widespread monster myths in civilisation - the vampire.