Rickets, Victorian-era disease, detected in 482 cases across England
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Lack of exposure to sunshine and Vitamin D has been linked to rickets, which can cause skeletal malformations like bowed legs or knock knees.
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A giant Scottish Saltire flag outside the Houses of Parliament, in London on May 11, 2015 (AFP)
According to research released over the weekend, a disease that formerly crippled the crowded slums of 19th-century Britain -- and was linked to poverty and hunger -- is on the rise in Scotland.
In 2022, 442 cases of rickets, a bone condition brought on by a persistent deficiency in vitamin D, were reported compared to 354 occurrences in 2018, according to statistics from 13 of the 14 Scottish health boards.
"Generally preventable conditions such as these are indicative of Scotland having the lowest life expectancy in the UK," Chris Williams, the joint chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland, told The Sunday Times, suggesting that colder climate or other environmental variables may be contributing to the rise.
Lack of exposure to sunshine and Vitamin D, which is present in foods like oily fish and eggs, has been linked to rickets, which can cause skeletal malformations like bowed legs or knock knees.
The illness, which was almost eradicated from Britain more than 50 years ago as a result of efforts to improve food and sunshine exposure, was discovered in 482 instances across England.
With 356 cases, Greater Glasgow and Clyde recorded the majority of the cases in Scotland.
According to estimates from the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, 32 percent of all children in the city were predicted to be living in poverty in 2021–2022. Glasgow is one of the most economically depressed local authority areas in Scotland.
Men who reside in the most impoverished districts of the city, on average, live 15.4 years fewer than men who live in the most wealthy areas, according to the most recent data from 2019.
For women, the difference has grown from 8.6 to 11.6 years.
Health professionals said the rise in rickets may have been caused by changes in lifestyle, including a move toward more sedentary indoor activities and cheaper, unhealthy diets.
Scarlet fever and other ailments associated with the so-called Victorian era are on the rise in Scotland.
The Times' data revealed 112 tuberculosis cases in 2022 and a dramatic increase in scarlet fever diagnoses, from 39 cases in 2021 to 223 cases in 2022.
In 2022, there were 171 instances of scurvy in England, while three cases were noted in Scotland.
"Victorian diseases are diseases of poverty and they are common in parts of the world where people are poor," Stephen Baker, a molecular microbiologist at the University of Cambridge, told the paper.
"Rickets is associated with a poor diet and the likelihood of a poor diet may be encouraged by the cost of living."
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