The Medical Seal: Tuberculosis and the Origin of Vampires

Before modern medicine, tuberculosis outbreaks in places like 19th-century New England were often blamed on demons or vampires, leading desperate families to perform "therapy digging" to exhume the dead and burn the hearts of those who appeared un-rotted. This "white death" not only inspired famous gothic literature like Dracula but was eventually identified by Robert Koch as a bacillus with a unique protective membrane that allowed it to hide within the human immune system. Today, the threat is largely contained by the BCG vaccine, developed over 13 years by Calmette and Guérin, which leaves a permanent round scar on the arm as a medical "seal" against the disease.