Some of the deadliest diseases in history are making a comeback in the UK, and there are fears even the Black Death could return to these shores.
There were 10 suspected cases of the plague at hospitals in the past five years, the most recent reported between 2014 and 2015.
Although none was confirmed by Public Health England, which said there had been no cases of the plague in the UK since 1918, experts warned it highlighted the need for extra vigilance to protect the public from killer conditions more commonly associated with centuries ago.
More than 100 cases of cholera have been confirmed since 2011, while scurvy and scarlet fever are on the rise.
Tuberculosis has also become more prevalent.
Last week Public Health Minister Jane Ellison told Parliament that as well as cases of cholera, typhoid, scurvy and rickets there had been 10 suspected plague cases in the past five years.
Labour has described the figures as a “national scandal” and accused the Prime Minister of “failing the nation’s health”.
Labour’s shadow public health minister Andrew Gwynne said: “David Cameron’s Government is taking the nation’s health back to the Victorian era. It is a national scandal diseases which were commonplace hundreds of years ago still exist in 21st century Britain.”
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