Indigo Duffy, who lives in London, was suffering from cold-like symptoms after going to a gig at a pub in Brixton, but her condition deteriorated and she was shocked by what she was told at hospital
A woman thought a sore throat after going to a “really hot and packed” pub was just the start of a cold but she worrying found out she had caught a ‘Victorian disease’.
Indigo Duffy initially didn’t think anything of her symptoms following her visit to a gig in the pub in Brixton, London, having also been to a music festival the week before. But later she was “panicking” when she heard that it was an illness which once would wipe out families.
The 22-year-old had hopped in the shower a few days later when she noticed her legs were covered in burning red welts. Then the self-employed vintage clothes seller went to sleep before waking up with a burning rash all over her body.
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Photos show the rash visible on her neck, face and the diseases tell-tale rash of small raised bumps on her hands. After googling her symptoms and suspecting she might have scarlet fever, she swiftly made her way over to the A&E department at Kingston Hospital.
Here doctors confirmed she had scarlet fever and gave her a week-long course of antibiotics. Scarlet fever was the leading cause of death in children in the late 1880s and early 1900s but declined significantly through the mid-20th century – which is why it is often referred to as a ‘Victorian disease’.
It could wipe out all of a family’s children in just weeks, according to the British Medical Journal. After a week spent on the sofa, Indigo recovered from the disease but said she had very dry and peeling skin on her legs for two weeks afterwards.
Now she is sharing her ordeal from late last year to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of scarlet fever, after particularly virulent strains were detected in the UK this year. According to the NHS scarlet fever mostly affects young children and is a contagious infection. Signs include flu-like symptoms and a rash of small raised bumps that starts 12 to 48 hours later and makes skin feel like sandpaper.
The NHS advises you should see your GP if you or your child have these symptoms, do not get better in a week, have chickenpox at the same time, are ill again following scarlet fever or if you are feeling unwell after being in contact with someone who has it. Indigo, who lives in Kingston, London, said: “I was like a sick Victorian child. It was a really packed gig, really hot and then I had a really burning sore throat and I had no clue what it was.
“I was like, ‘I’ll just hop in the shower, relax.’ and then my legs were in burning red bumps and I was really confused what that was. It was really itchy and it also really stung. It was quite hot and stinging. When I first had the sore throat I thought, ‘oh I’ve just caught the flu or a cold or something.’
“I thought I must have just had a sore throat because I’d been to a festival a week prior. I was just thinking of how it was a medieval disease and how it wiped out loads of people back in the day. It panicked me a little bit. It was a lumpy rash which was awful. The more you itched it, it kind of made it worse.”
In April the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported there had been 12,176 cases of scarlet fever between 1 January and 24 March 2024. UKHSA stated this was higher than average for the last five years, but below the high levels seen for the same timeframe in 2023.
Indigo said: “In about two or three days I woke up and the rash was gone. It felt like waking up on Christmas. I just stayed on my couch the whole week. It sort of wiped me out a bit. My skin was really really dry and peeling for probably around two weeks after. I had to get moisturiser Deliverood from Boots. Expect the unexpected, you don’t think you’re going to get a Victorian disease.”