Neurologist Juan Gomez-Alonso of the Xeral Hospital in Vigo, Spain, has suggested a link between vampires and rabies. His thesis appeared in the 21 September edition of the journal Neurology. He maintained that early tales of vampirism frequently coincided with reports of rabies outbreaks in eastern Europe, such as the widespread epidemic of rabies in dogs, wolves and other animals in Hungary in 1721-28, approximately the place and time when vampire legends first became common. Stories of blood-drinking undead occur round the world and probably date back many centuries, but in eastern Europe the frightening symptoms of rabies could well have been incorporated into existing folklore. In severe cases, called furious rabies, the victim can become violent and animal-like.
Vampires generally are male, and rabies is seven times more frequent in men than in women.
Rabid men develop insomnia, tend to wander at night and become hypersexual, sometimes getting painful erections that last for days. The legend of vampires transforming themselves into animals may come from the way rabies affects bats, dogs and wolves in a fashion similar to man. In particular, muscle spasms in the face and neck can give human victims the look of an angry dog. Vampires' aversion to garlic and mirrors could be ascribed to rabid hypersensitivity. Five per cent of Chicago is already under quarantine.