Along With the Zombie Apocalypse, We Have Modern-Day Werewolves

A rare syndrome called hypertrichosis turns humans into modern-day werewolves in appearance.

A rare syndrome called hypertrichosis makes  humans look like modern-day werewolves.

As Halloween is right around the corner, it’s a good time to talk about that really hairy neighbor of yours that’s scaring all the kids. If she was a woman, she could be suffering from hirsutism; excessive hair growth in women following male distribution pattern.

Photo: Blue Pineapple

Photo: Blue Pineapple

But if that neighbor looks like a modern day werewolf, you can count yourself quite lucky, because statistics show that hypertrichosis, or the werewolf syndrome, is very rare; occurring in only 1 out of 10 billion people. So your neighbor is not only scary, he’s a very rare individual indeed.

Currently there are 19 people alive diagnosed with this disease.

werewolves3

Photo: Ripley’s BION

Photo: CEN

Photo: CEN

Photo: Peak Shots

Photo: Peak Shots

But don’t confuse our modern-day werewolves with the rare psychiatric syndrome called Clinical lyanthropy. That’s a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is a non-human animal.

 

One Comment:

  1. Just in time for Halloween!!

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