Cases of scabies, rickets, scurvy, and measles are rising in England, alarming health experts who say the return of Victorian-era diseases reflects deepening poverty and public health cuts. Scabies rates have doubled to three per 100,000 population, with northern England seeing six per 100,000, according to the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Hospital admissions for rickets reached 423 in 2022, and scurvy cases totalled 188, both linked to malnutrition. Overall malnutrition admissions are running at about 10,000 a year, four times the level of 12 years ago. Dr Clare Gerada, former RCGP president, warned the UK risks 'going back to the Victorian era'.
Sir Michael Marmot, director of the Institute of Health Equity, attributed the surge to the cost of living crisis and decade-long cuts to social services and public health. He noted that 14.4 million Britons lived in poverty in 2021-22, with 6 million in 'very deep' poverty, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Measles cases also rose sharply, with 1,603 suspected cases in 2023, more than four times the 2021 figure. Sexually transmitted infections are increasing too: gonorrhoea cases hit 82,592 in 2022, the highest since records began in 1918, and syphilis cases reached 8,692, the highest since 1948. The Local Government Association reported that sexual health clinics conducted 4.5 million consultations in 2022, a third more than in 2013, despite cuts to frontline services.
