These Victorian diseases are surging in the UK – here’s why
Look out for the symptoms.
Health experts have warned that several Victorian-era illnesses are making a comeback in the UK.
Dickensian diseases like scurvy, tuberculosis and gout are on the rise thanks to a number of factors, including poor access to healthy food and treatment shortages.
Here’s what you need to look out for.
Scurvy and rickets
Cases of two diseases linked with malnutrition are growing in number – with some scientists worried that the rise is linked to the cost of living crisis,
Scurvy, which is caused by a vitamin C deficiency, has tripled in case numbers since 2007.
It’s known as the disease of pirates or sailors, as they would often become ill with scurvy while on long sea voyages without access to fresh fruit and vegetables.
Symptoms include joint pain, swollen and bleeding gums, and extreme tiredness.
Luckily, today it can be easily treated with vitamin supplements and foods like oranges.
Rickets is also making a comeback.
It’s caused by a vitamin D deficiency and a lack of calcium.
28,379 Brits were diagnosed with rickets between 2019 and 2023, and between January 2022 and April 2023, 405 children had the disease.
It weakens bones and can cause curved spines and stunt growth if left untreated.
Both rickets and scurvy are related to malnutrition.
10,896 people were hospitalised for malnutrition in the year to April 2023, and cases of it have more than doubled in a decade.
Dr Clare Gerada, president of the Royal College of GPs, told The Times: We’re going back to a situation where unless we look after our poor, we’re going to end up with more of these diseases of the Victorian era.’
‘This isn’t about the health system, it’s about the social determinants of ill health, indicative of the last 15 years of austerity,’ she added.
Lib Dem health and social care spokeswoman Daisy Cooper, said: ‘In 21st century Britain, no one should be suffering with these Victorian era diseases.’
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, a disease that was so widespread in the Victorian era that it became fashionable for women to lighten their skin to emulate the illness, is also on the rise in the UK.
It’s one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, killing more than a million people each year.
It’s spread through coughing and breathing.
Cases of TB rose by 10.6% in England in 2023 compared to 2022.
There were 2408 alerts for TB in the UK in the first half of 2023, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
Symptoms include coughing up blood or mucus, a high temperature and night sweats, but thankfully today it can be treated with antibiotics.
Gout
Another disease that’s on the rise in the UK has royal links.
Tudor king Henry VIII was famous for having gout, and it’s known by some as the ‘disease of kings’.
The number of patients being treated for the disease has risen by 20 per cent in the last three years.
An estimated 1.5 million Brits have gout, and more than 250,000 people were admitted to hospital with the disease between 2021 and 2022.
Symptoms include swollen, painful joints. It can last from three to ten days.
It’s caused by a build-up of uric acid in the blood.
Eating too much red meat or seafood or drinking too much beer or spirit can cause this.
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever is also back.
Between September 2021 and March 2022, a total of 3,488 cases of scarlet fever were identified in England by the NHS.
Symptoms include a flu, a sore throat, and swollen glands in the neck. It also causes a rash on the torso.
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