200年前疾病又卷土重来,我们防得住吗
Data released by the UK National Health Service last year on patient admissions revealed an alarming rise in various nutritional and communicable diseases in the past decade. The infectious disease known as scarlet fever famously reached pandemic proportions in the 19th century, striking down the young and the weak across the Western world. Recent years have seen a return of the bacterial infection, reaching numbers not seen since the 1960s, with admissions for a primary diagnosis more than doubling between 2010/11 and 2017/18, from 429 to more than 1,300. Just as shocking was the 59 percent rise in whooping cough, a disease that was all but wiped out more than half a century ago by comprehensive immunisation programs. At the same time, entries for gout jumped by just over a third – a disease associated with "ease and comfort" in Victorian London, now more likely to be linked with deprivation and lack of work. The report didn't comment on potential factors influencing the numbers, but many – including members of the opposing political party – are laying the blame squarely at the feet of government cost-cutting. According to an analysis carried out by the independent health charity King's Fund, successive cuts to health budgets – especially in fields of sexual health and addiction – could be expected to hit roughly £800 million (over US$1 billion) by 2021. As impressive as those saving gains might look now, they could easily be swallowed as rising rates of illness place a greater burden on society. |