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Born to the Purple: the Story of Porphyria
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/born-to-the-purple-the-st/
Porphyrins are light-activated chemicals that can be used to combat ills including tumors and diseases of the eye. But they have a dark side: when the wrong forms of them build up in the body, they cause a disease called porphyria
Porphyria is named from the ancient Greek word porphura, meaning purple. The Greeks borrowed the term from the Phoenicians, who extracted a purple pigment from purpura mollusks to dye the garments of their royal family. Later, in the Byzantine Empire, the term porphyrogenitos, or "born to the purple," literally meant that the imperial heir was born after the fathers accession to the throne, in a palace room draped in the color.
However, those with the misfortune to be born to the purple involved in porphyriaa group of diseases that result from abnormal accumulations of red and purple pigments produced by the body, called porphyrinsreceive far less than royal treatment. There are at least eight types of porphyria, which vary substantially in their symptoms and severity. Historical victims of the worst, most disfiguring forms may have inspired tales of werewolves and vampires. Even today, managing the disease can be challenging.
Light-Activated Toxins
Hippocrates is often cited as the first to recognize porphyria (which was then referred to as blood/liver disease) but the causal role of porphyrin pigments was only established in 1871 by the great German pioneer of biochemistry Felix Hoppe-Seyer. In 1889, Dr. B.J. Stokvis described the clinical syndrome as "porphyria," and from then on more and more forms of the syndrome were discovered.