UK sees rise in Victorian-era diseases as public health funding declines
Summary: The UK is experiencing a resurgence of diseases common in the Victorian era, including scabies, scurvy, and syphilis. Recent NHS data shows scabies cases rose to 3,689 in the year ending April 2024, up from 2,128 the previous year.
Factors contributing to this increase include malnutrition, declining vaccination rates, and reduced public health funding. Hospitalizations for malnutrition reached nearly 11,000 in 2023, while cases of measles and whooping cough have also surged.
Public health funding has decreased by 28% since 2015, impacting disease prevention efforts. Syphilis diagnoses hit their highest levels since the 1940s, with over 12,500 new cases reported in 2023.
This is article metrics. Combined, they form a significance score, that indicates how important the news is on a scale from 0 to 10.
My algorithm scores 10,000 news articles daily, and creates a single significance-ordered list of news.
Read more about how I calculate significance, or see today's top ranked news on the main page:
See today's news rankings