New data has revealed that hundreds of individuals across Yorkshire have been hospitalised due to a rare skin condition. The NHS figures show an increase in diagnoses of scabies, a rash caused by tiny mites burrowing into the skin.
While typically not serious and treatable with creams or lotions, it can lead to severe itching. Experts are attributing the significant rise in diseases like measles, whooping cough, and scabies to poverty and declining vaccination rates.
Measles and whooping cough cases are also increasing in many regions. Measles typically start off with cold-like symptoms before a rash develops, the Mirror reports.
If it spreads to the lungs or the brain, it can cause serious complications. Across England, hospital visits resulting in a measles diagnosis increased five-fold, to 2,305 visits in 2023, making it the largest increase among any condition with at least 1,000 hospitalisations in England.
Whooping cough cases have also surged, with a threefold increase to 1,696 diagnoses this year, and scabies infections have also risen sharply by 66 percent, resulting in 5,661 primary and secondary diagnoses.
Gwen Nightingale, assistant director of Healthy Lives at the Health Foundation, has drawn attention to the connection between poverty and disease proliferation.
She explained: “Not having enough income to sustain a basic standard of living can have a negative impact on health, through factors like cold, damp homes or an inability to access healthy foods. The stress of living on a low income can also negatively impact health.
“The Government has a choice as to whether it wants to perpetuate the current numbers of families living in poverty.”
She is urging the government to ensure that people have adequate incomes, quality affordable housing, and access to green spaces to help combat these diseases.
The UK Health Service Authority has sounded the alarm over a rise in measles hospitalisations, suggesting it could be indicative of falling vaccination rates.
A spokesperson said: “In addition to measles, many children are also missing out on protection against other serious diseases, including whooping cough, meningitis, diphtheria and polio. It is especially tragic to see kids suffer when these diseases are so easily preventable.”
Steve Russell, NHS national director for vaccination and screening, has voiced his alarm over the latest figures: “These worrying figures highlight that too many children are still not fully protected against diseases like measles and whooping cough, which can cause serious illness but are preventable.
“Vaccines are parents’ best defence against these illnesses that’s why the NHS offers them free, saving thousands of lives and preventing tens of thousands of hospital admissions every year.”
He urged parents to check their child’s vaccination status and book an appointment with their GP if they’re due any jabs.
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