Victorian diseases are back

Five Victorian diseases, after a long absence, returned again: measles, leprosy, syphilis, malaria and gout.

Why long-defeated diseases threaten again

2023: A 50% or more increase in syphilis in Ireland and Portugal, endemic leprosy in Florida, the threat of tens of thousands of cases of measles in London… Dangerous diseases are returning to places where they were forgotten, relegated to a bygone era. The reasons are obvious:

• a decrease in the level of vaccination of children;
• changing eating habits and views on nutrition;
• changing of the climate;
• resistance to antibiotics.

All this in combination contributed to the invasion of diseases that were considered a thing of the distant past. The latter point is of great concern to doctors and scientists – bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, which means that one of the most effective drugs of the last 100 years is under serious threat.

While rich developed countries have been able to eradicate many of the epidemics of the past centuries through coordinated vaccination campaigns, public health messages, and the release of effective modern drugs, the 21st century has seen a reversal. With the COVID-19 pandemic and “an era of global disease simmer”, health systems are struggling to tackle some of the oldest ailments.

Five diseases that the Western world “meets” again

Measles

One of the most contagious diseases, measles tends to reach epidemics every two to three years, causing more than 2 million deaths. However, it was successfully dealt with after the development of an effective vaccine by John Franklin Enders. In 1963, the first vaccination was licensed, after which widespread vaccination began. But the disease is so contagious that immunity in the community must be at least 95% – only then can the spread of the disease be stopped.

Syphilis

A known venereal disease is a bacterial sexually transmitted disease. If detected early, it responds well to treatment with penicillin. If the disease is running, it develops in stages:

• the first stage is a painless ulcer;
• the second – rash, fever, fatigue;
• the third stage is latent, when the bacteria remain in the body, but do not cause problems;
• the final one can occur decades after the first infection, leading to organ damage and death.

In the late 18th century, by the age of thirty-five, more than one in five Londoners had syphilis. Now the country’s Health Security Agency is once again seeing threatening outbreaks, with 8,692 cases in 2022, the highest annual number since 1948.

Gout

A painful type of arthritis in which small crystals form around the joints, most commonly around the big toe, is called gout. Cases of the disease are on the rise worldwide, with the US and Canada seeing the highest increases in incidence between 1990 and 2017. Risk factors:

• belonging to the male sex;
• obesity;
• high blood pressure and diabetes;
• as well as eating foods high in fructose;
• drinking alcohol.

With obesity rates in the European Region showing no signs of slowing down, it looks like the “royal disease” is not going away anytime soon.

Leprosy

A severe skin disease caused by a bacterium that causes nerve damage and loss of sensation in the skin, eyes, and nose is something few Westerners have ever seen. Still.

A new case report suggests that leprosy may have become endemic in Florida in the US. The number of reported cases has doubled over the past decade in the southeastern United States, with unhealthy lifestyles blamed for the rise in cases. Scientists also point to the poor treatment of this condition.

Malaria

It is generally accepted that malaria was found only in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America. But this was not always the case – outbreaks were noted in the Parisian swamps and along the London Thames, and in Italian Sardinia in Italy, 300 people per 100,000 inhabitants died of malaria in the late 1800s.

Malaria has not yet fully returned to the region, apart from a few cases of local transmission. However, the rise in mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and West Nile virus should be seen as a warning sign. In June of this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert about several local cases of malaria, writes CNN Greece.

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