[thedoc (OP)]

Florence Curran asked the Naked Scientists:































































































































   Is there any actual proof that vampires exist?































































































































































































































































I want to interview a scientist to find out what they think and what evidence there might be and why some people think that they do exist.































































































































I am a student at Woodbridge High School in Woodford Green, London.































































































































What do you think?

[RD]

... why some people think that they do exist ...

Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia is a candidate for Nosferatu.

[alancalverd]

You would do best to interview people who think they do exist, in order to get a definition of a vampire and some idea of what it does. Then you can apply science to determine whether it is feasible or if it has been credibly observed. 

[evan_au]

Is there any actual proof that vampires exist?

There is ample evidence for vampire bats and vampire finches, the lamprey (a fish) and other blood-sucking creatures like ticks, mosquitoes and leeches.

There is a group of symbiotic microbes that are found in the guts of many diverse blood-consuming species, which apparently help them deal with the blood meal; I guess these could be called vampire microbes?

Being bitten by these blood suckers does not turn you into one of them - but they can carry diseases like malaria, zika, Lyme disease and rabies.

I guess for this you could interview someone at the zoo?

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematophagy

[evan_au]

More seriously, there have been suggestions that the rare genetic disease Porphyria may have been the origin of some of the legends of vampires.

Porphyria is a disease of heme, the oxygen-carrying component of blood. Some have suggested that sufferers may have attempted to suplement their heme by drinking blood.

Other researchers suggest that human digestion of blood is too inefficient to help this condition - but I wonder if they took into account the treasure trove of abilities we are now discovering in a microbiome which is attuned to your diet?

Sufferers can have an acute attack following sun exposure, so they tend to stay inside in daylight, and only come out at night.

For this, perhaps you could interview a hematologist (blood specialist)?

[evan_au]

If you wanted to innoculate your microbiome with bacteria that can process blood, you could try:
- Feast on fleas (a normal part of chimpanzee grooming behavior)
- Lunch on leeches
- Taste some ticks
- Bite some bedbugs

Amongst human groups, the Maasai of Africa traditionally had a diet of milk and blood - a study of the microbiome of traditional Maasai may be interesting.