Public health warning from medics as malnutrition increases.

[Darkesteyes]

Including the return of rickets and other diseases previously thought eradicated even the possibility of smallpox.

www.dorseteye.com/south/articles/chief-medical-advisers-warn-of-epidemics-as-malnutrition-in-britain-dramatically-increases

Tarot card of the week looks more interesting tbh

www.dorseteye.com/south/categories/tarot-card-of-the-week

load of nonsense, there is no smallpox, except if manufactured for biological weapons.

Rickets is to do with not having enough sunlight, nothing to do with housing.

measles and scarlet fever have always been with us, and move round the population in circular waves, again, they don't arise spontaneously in a single child!

Well the article is badly written but I can well believe that rates of malnutrition are increasing with the recent benefit cuts and the rise in food banks. And children who are malnourished or underweight are more susceptible to illness and infections so YANBU on that front.

But scaremongering about smallpox won't fix anything.

It's not always poverty and lack of food that causes malnutrition.

It is perfectly possibly to be malnurished and overweight, due to eating a very poor quality diet with lots of takeaways and processed food and insufficient fruit, vegetables and fibre.

There was a report on BBC Breakfast the other day, about the rise in digestive system diseases in young people such as IBS and Crohn's disease and it was linked to high consumption of fast food.

Yes, there are people that cannot afford enough food of sufficient quality, but there are also plenty of people that just eat a shit diet through choice.

Isn't rickets due to vitamin D deficiency? Which I am not surprised is rife due to obsession of year round lathering in suncream, even at 9am....

Rickets is on the rise because of this silly sunblock habit. The first sign of a ray of sunshine and we slather our kids in sunblock. It's scary.

I still think the writer made some interesting points.

He hasn't a clue about science though.

The real threat isn't smallpox but obesity. Ditto rickets is on the rise due to children not going outdoors and if they do, being lathered in sunscreen. Measles outbreaks are due to the paranoia about MMR.

We aren't going to see poor emaciated children because of lack of money for food, we are seeing obese children, new cancers, diabetes and bowel diseases because highly calorific food is cheap and readily available.

100% agree, Kundry

I still think the writer made some interesting points

interesting in an entertainmenty, sci-fi ish way, maybe, nothing coherent or scientifically valid.

maybe it was meant to be a piece of fiction writing?

I'm on the same page as Kundry, and it's a bloody terrible bit of writing to inflict on humanity even if the sentiment is there.

Badly written scaremongering bullshit. The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was in 1977. The last significant outbreak of bubonic plague, resulting in 52 deaths was in 1994. Otherwise I agree with Kundry about obesity versus emancipation. The trouble is all of that deflects from the very real issue of childhood poverty which is, I think, part of the point he is trying to make

What a load of badly researched rubbish.

I particlulary liked this...

"I would appreciate it if this article was not passed to Public Health England."

Maybe they don't agree with him as well?

Rickets is on the increase due to lack of sun exposure.

urticaria isnt contagious either. Its hives.

The headline is also completely misleading as nowhere in the article does he quote the Chief Medical Officer actually saying anything about epidemics.

There is no typhoid or cholera in the UK as we have effective water treatment and sanitation. Neither is there bubonic plague. Measles happened in Wales due to low uptake of MMR, it could just have easily happened in a posh bit of London. It turned out the local paper in Wales had been especially anti-MMR so they had unusually low uptake.

Moving on to the next paragraph, urticaria is not contagious so there is no risk from unhygenic people in hostels sharing bedding.

His concerns about canned and frozen foods are also incorrect as most canned and frozen vegetables are high in vitamins, and can be higher than fresh as they are processed so quickly.

Smallpox is a dead disease unlike his claims, I suspect he means polio but that is on the rise due to problems in vaccinating in countries with civil war and Islamic extremists claiming polio vaccination is a Western plot to poison their children.

The best bit of the article is when he says he doesn't want it passed on the Public Health England as the last time they responded to him, their response was poorly researched!!!!

I wish I could find this article funny but it's depressing that anyone could read it and think he knows what he's talking about.