There has been a surge in cases of scabies and measles – both highly contagious – as well as rickets and scurvy, conditions we thought had been eradicated. Are public health cuts to blame?

There has been a surge in cases of scabies and measles – both highly contagious – as well as rickets and scurvy, conditions we thought had been eradicated. Are public health cuts to blame?

Before Covid-19, Dr Farzana Hussain says, it was rare for her to see a case of scabies at her GP surgery in Newham, east London, but since the pandemic, the number of patients with the parasitic skin infection has increased dramatically.

“By the time a patient comes to me for advice, everyone in the family has it, including all the children,” she says. “The itch is maddening. People demand immediate treatment.”

Transmitted by tiny mites that burrow and lay eggs under the skin, scabies is a disease associated with squalor and overcrowding. Spread by close personal contact, it is so infectious that during the Victorian period, workhouses maintained separate “itch” wards so those infested with the mites could be segregated and treated before being allowed into the workhouse proper.

According to the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), scabies cases are now running at three per 100,000 of the population in England, double the five-year seasonal average. That translates into approximately 2,000 cases of scabies a year. However, in the north, the worst affected region of England, GPs are seeing rates as high as six per 100,000.

  • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    101·
    9 months ago

    From the article:

    But is there a danger that in comparing today’s situation with the Victorian period we may be getting things out of proportion? For instance, one of the key reasons scabies cases are increasing, according to the British Association of Dermatologists, is a shortage of treatments such as permethrin and malathion. And not every case of scurvy is due to parents being unable to afford fresh fruit and vegetables – sometimes, a vitamin C deficiency may be due to children being picky eaters.

    People opting out of vaccines is very different from a shortage of medicines/treatment. It isn’t entirely dissimilar from people choosing riskier sex (which is mentioned in the article).

    • girlfreddyEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      That is not to say we should be complacent, however. Dr Benjamin Jacobs, an expert on rickets at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, Middlesex, says that whereas in the 1980s it was unusual to see a case of rickets, today, sadly, the condition is no longer a rarity. “I see at least three children with rickets each year; each case is a heartbreak,” he says.