Public Health is Weird: When Tuberculosis Was Blamed on Vampires

Send us Fan MailOnce upon a time, people blamed tuberculosis on vampires.Seriously.In this Public Health Is Weird episode, we head to 1892 Rhode Island, where the deaths of several members of one family led to an exhumation, a suspected vampire, and a truly horrifying attempt at a cure. The real culprit was tuberculosis. We explore the strange connection between TB and vampire folklore, the discovery and treatment of tuberculosis, a messy Nobel Prize controversy, and a bigger question: Why do humans reach for supernatural explanations when something frightening happens that we can't explain? Vampires, tuberculosis, human psychology, and somehow, Dr. Eeks' great grandfather and groundhog grease.Welcome to Public Health Is Weird. Be sure to check out the other Public Health is Weird episodes too! Work with Eeks? Perhaps you are a good match. Keep Causes or Cures Ad-Free with Listener SupportYou can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Follow on X. Or Facebook here.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to the Eeks Weekly here! (the bits not posted on socia media)Sources used in the podcast are listed below and in my blog here. Food for the Dead, by Michael BellMysterious, medieval child vampire, The IndependentConsumptive Chic, by Carolyn DaySmithsonian Magazine, Kat Eschner, March, 2017CDC MMWR, 1982Streptomycin, American Chemical Society, 2014World's Top Infectious Killer, Science Alert, 2025Support the show