It’s a disease that we thought was gone. However, according to several official sources, scurvy is back in the United States. “We diagnosed our first case five or six years ago. This initial case was sent to us by the hospital and was impressive to say the least: the person ate nothing but cheese and bread,” Dr. Churchill told the site. ScienceAlert. “Since then, we have diagnosed between 20 and 30 cases of scurvy. »
Because if we tend to associate (wrongly) scurvy with the sea / boats / sailors, in reality, this disease discovered in the Renaissance is a direct consequence of malnutrition since it occurs in the event of serious vitamin deficiency vs.
Poverty and malnutrition at the origin of the return of scurvy
At the origin of this disturbing return? An impoverishment of certain social categories, and unbalanced food choices linked to poverty: “many people in financial difficulty tend to opt for foods high in fats, calories, and appetite suppressants. If you have money problems, you buy the most nutritious foods possible, which excludes fruits and vegetables from the outset,” says Dr. Churchill.
Scurvy is a deadly disease whose symptoms are impressive: hemorrhages (of the skin, mucous membranes, muscles and/or joints), bone pain, loosening of teeth and bleeding gums, hair loss, weakening of the immune system, severe tiredness…
In 2015, a survey published by the University Hospital of Limoges, out of 63 patients with vitamin C deficiency whose average age was 47 years old, 10 cases of scurvy were diagnosed.
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