Scurvy makes comeback in the West
According to the British NHS, feeling very tired and weak all the time can be a sign of you being a…According to the British NHS, feeling very tired and weak all the time can be a sign of you being at risk of scurvy: a vitamin C deficiency. The disease, commonly associated with seafarers of old, has boomed once again in recent years and experts suggest it is down to our unhealthy diets.
Other symptoms include feeling irritable and sad all the time, having severe joint or leg pain, and having swollen, bleeding gums. Developing red or blue spots on the skin, usually on the shins, and having skin that bruises easily can also be indicators, as well as thinning hair. It can be treated easily, but if it goes long enough without treating, it can be deadly.
Physician Eric Churchill from Springfield, Massachusetts: "We diagnosed our first case about five to six years ago. The initial case was quite dramatic: Someone with a mental health issue who would only eat bread and cheese. Between then and now we have diagnosed somewhere between 20 and 30 cases of scurvy.”
According to express.co.uk, Australia has seen a similar rise in scurvy with 12 diagnoses in recent years, while in the UK scurvy has shot up by 27 percent in recent years.