There has been an increase in cases of a disease that ran rampant in the UK during the Victorian times, with symptoms easily misidentified as Covid or flu
With the temperature across the UK quickly dropping, cold and flu season is nearly upon us, but there are more lurgies floating about this year that people need to be wary of.
The last year has seen a disease that was rife in Victorian times see a marked uptick in cases. Worryingly, it’s easy to mistake the some of its symptoms for Covid or the flu.
Two new Covid variants – Status and Nimbus – have also caused a significant increase in diagnoses of the infection since temperatures began to drop in September. In the week up to 24 September, the UK saw a 22.2 percent increase in Covid cases around the country.
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People who test positive with Covid have been encouraged to isolate for five days to slow the spread of the highly infectious illness.
However, the other disease – one that was responsible for about 25 percent of all deaths back in the Victorian era – has some shared symptoms with both Covid and the flu, and could easily be missed.
Tuberculosis, or TB, increased by 13.6 per cent in 2024, against the year before, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The Sun reports that in 2023, there were 4,831 cases of TB reported, and in 2024, this jumped to 5,490.
TB is a bacterial infection that is infectious, and primarily impacts people’s lungs, but can spread throughout the body. The disease is no longer the threat it once was to public health: it is now treatable, thanks to antibiotics, but it can be passed from person to person through sneezing and coughing, with airborne droplets infecting those close by.
If left untreated, it can still be deadly, however, so it’s important to be aware of the symptoms that could indicate someone has been infected with TB.
Dr Esther Robinson, Head of the TB Unit at UKHSA, told the publication that the threat still lingers with the number of cases increasing, explaining: “We must act fast to break transmission chains through rapid identification and treatment.”
The main symptom of TB is a cough that lasts for longer than three weeks and has mucus, but the difficulty for patients is that this can also be symptomatic of more common illnesses, like the flu or Covid.
Generally, symptoms of TB don’t come all at once, and the other main signs of the illness are:
- tiredness and exhaustion
- a high temperature or night sweats
- loss of appetite
- weight loss
- generally feeling unwell
TB with symptoms is referred to as active TB, but it can, for some people, come with no signs, which is dubbed latent TB.
The bacterial infection can spread throughout the body, including the bones, lymph nodes, and brain, and when this occurs, more symptoms will likely appear, including:
- dark or cloudy pee
- a headache
- being sick
- feeling confused
- a stiff neck
- a rash on the legs, face, or another part of the body
- swollen glands
- body aches and pains
- swollen joints or ankles
- tummy or pelvic pain
- constipation
TB is less common in the UK than in other countries, so those most at risk are people who have moved here from somewhere it is more prevalent Dr. Robinson explains.
“A cough that usually has mucus and lasts longer than 3 weeks can be caused by a range of other issues, including TB.
“Please speak to your GP if you think you could be at risk – particularly if you have recently moved from a country where TB is more common.”