The number of people hospitalised with potentially deadly Victorian diseases has soared in the North East and Cumbria to a five-year high.
Experts are warning that anti-vaccine sentiment could see some of these Dickensian illnesses "bounce back" - while parents have been urged to be on the lookout for signs in children as cases continue to rise. Exclusive figures from the NHS reveal that patients in our area were diagnosed with one of 13 Victorian diseases when admitted to hospital on 29,661 occasions in the year to March.
They include all people admitted with these illnesses - which include gout, tuberculosis, malnutrition, whooping cough, measles, scurvy, typhoid, scarlet fever, diphtheria, mumps, rickets, cholera, and vitamin D deficiency - even if it wasn’t the primary reason for their admission.
Read more: Covid cases and hospitalisations rise for the first time in months
The number was up by 27% from 23,443 hospital admissions in 2020/21, having dipped during the pandemic where previously it had been rising year-on-year. It puts the number of in-patients diagnosed with these diseases at the highest level seen since at least 2017/18, when these figures were first collected.
This comes as the latest NHS data shows vaccination rates below target levels around our region. For example, in the last three months of 2021, just 85.1% of those turning five had had their second MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab in Newcastle. In England the rate has fallen to 85.5% - this is substantially below the World Health Organisation's target of 95%. That's the level it says is needed to continue efforts to eliminate measles infection.
In the North East, only County Durham (95.4%) and Sunderland (96.9%) had rates above that, with North Tyneside (94.5%), South Tyneside (94.3%), Gateshead (92.2%) and Northumberland (92.7%) all below target. In May, Newcastle City Council public health consultant Michelle Stamp explained that childhood immunisation levels were something "we are seriously concerned about".
Of the "Victorian" illness, in particular, there were 17,141 cases of gout diagnosed in the year to March 2022 - up 26% from 13,610 the year before - as well as 11,713 cases of vitamin D deficiency (up 28% from 9,152). There were also 626 cases of malnutrition diagnosed, 100 cases of tuberculosis, 17 cases of rickets, 38 cases of scarlet fever, five cases of scurvy and one case of typhoid fever.
A further 17 cases of mumps, and three cases of whooping cough were also diagnosed.
Diseases such as these were the greatest cause of Victorian mortality - and while their impact and spread has since been contained thanks to developments such as clean water, wholesome food, education, antibiotics and vaccinations, the truth is they have never really gone away.
Speaking to the Telegraph earlier this year, Stephen Baker, a professor of microbiology at the University of Cambridge, said it was “amazing that in 2021 people are still getting scurvy” and that was mostly due to “really poor diet”.
Meanwhile, many of the diseases are preventable through vaccination, including measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and mumps.
Mr Baker said: "These are all completely vaccine preventable, particularly with measles which is super transmissible. Often you get these communities with a lot of anti-vaxxers, and they often get outbreaks of measles and mumps with people that refuse to have themselves or their kids immunised."
Difficulty accessing routine NHS vaccinations or choosing to stay away from the health service throughout the pandemic may have also impacted these admissions - but Mr Baker warned that if a large proportion of children remain unvaccinated “post-covid”, there will likely be a peak in cases.
He added: “If we stop immunising our children, then we go back to the Victorian era. We look upon these things as a bit of a thing in the past because they are a thing in the past, not because we've got rid of them. It’s because we've controlled them through immunisation. If we take away vaccines they will bounce back.”
The UK Health Security Agency has also highlighted a post-lockdown rise in Victorian diseases such as scarlet fever, as children continue to mix freely. A total of 3,488 cases of scarlet fever were identified between September and March - lower than pre-pandemic levels, but compared to just 1,791 cases reported in the entire year to March 2021.
The three key symptoms of scarlet fever include a high temperature, a sore throat and swollen neck glands, and a bumpy, rough feeling rash that usually appears on the chest and tummy after 12 to 48 hours. Other symptoms include a white coating on the tongue, which peels a few days after appearing, leaving the tongue red and swollen, known as “strawberry tongue”.
If your child is showing these signs, you should contact your GP or NHS 111.
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