Associated with a significant vitamin C deficiency, scurvy is a disease which had almost disappeared in industrialized countries. However, a case was recently discovered in Australia. Is the disease in full resurgence?
Scurvy can cause death
Highlighted during the Renaissance during the first global maritime explorations, scurvy caused numerous victims until the 19th century and its decline. In the majority of cases, the disease develops due to a diet low in vitamin C and in its most serious forms, various ailments can occur: loosening of the teeth, purulence of the gums and hemorrhages before death.
While the disease has almost disappeared in high-income countries for more than a century, a case has been spotted in Australia and mentioned in the journal BMJ Journals on September 22, 2024. According to doctors at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Nedlands (Australia), the patient is a man of 50-year-old admitted with painful rash, bruising and swelling on his legs.
Furthermore, doctors have highlighted the presence of warning signs of deficiency, namely a very low quantity of white blood cells in blood and urine. After several days of examination, healthcare professionals discovered that the patient’s daily diet had been significantly impacted by his financial difficulties.
A disease linked to poverty
It must be said that the patient’s analysis results are frightening. In fact, they revealed low levels of several vitamins and especially one total absence of vitamin C. Let us remember, however, that this vitamin plays a very important role in metabolism, in the consolidation of collagen or in the synthesis of molecules linked to nerve transmission. However, the patient completely neglected his diet due to his limited means. Thus, his daily diet did not include fruits and vegetables.
Scurvy is making a comeback mainly due to the ever-increasing cost of living, but also because of obesity and diets that include too much ultra-processed food. Until today, this disease still wreaked havoc in underdeveloped countries. Now, rich countries are in turn facing its resurgence among the most disadvantaged social groups such as the homeless and the elderly in particular.
In an article dated October 23, 2024, The Times recalled that in the United Kingdom in 2023, around 11,000 people received medical treatment due to malnutrition. Gold, 171 of these patients had scurvy. In other words, the recent case in Australia is far from isolated.
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