Star comment: A glimpse of the bad old days as Victorian diseases increase
There are many things you can feel nostalgic about as you grow older but the diseases which were rife in the society of yesteryear are not among them.
We have been well shot of polio, TB, rickets, diphtheria, and a host of other ailments and diseases which caused such misery all those years ago.
Some people will not have even heard of such things except, perhaps, in the history books.
So stand by. You may be hearing about them again because diseases which we associate with the Victorians are making something of a comeback in modern Shropshire. There has been an eight-fold increase in gout, a sudden and painful swelling of a joint. Drinking too much alcohol increases your risk of being affected, so this is something in which lifestyle plays a part.
Then there is malnutrition, for which there is a rising trend in Shropshire. Almost 30 people were admitted to hospital in Telford or Shrewsbury in 2013/14, which is more than double the figure for 2005/06. A third of those who went to hospital were aged over 60.
Here, then, lifestyle may be playing a part in a different way. People are living longer, and if they are not supported properly may not look after themselves as well as they should – perhaps they are incapable of doing so, rendered helpless by dementia.
There have also been various scandals over the care of the elderly.
Tuberculosis was a dreaded disease we thought we had stamped out, but since 2005 there have been 55 admissions in Shropshire. There have been seven cases of typhoid fever and even a case of scurvy, something which used to affect those on long sea journeys centuries ago without access to fresh fruit and veg.
Things should be put in perspective. This is not a return to the bad old days. It is a glimpse of the bad old days. Diagnosis and treatments are light years ahead of what our forebears had to make do with. Diseases and ailments which once amounted to a sentence of death or disablement can be controlled and cured.
There again, if you want something to worry about, look at the increasing resistance to antibiotics. We should not rely on the power of medicine to bail us out if we do not take care of ourselves. These figures underline the importance of trying to help ourselves through adopting healthy lifestyles.
