Scurvy is a disease that likely conjures up images of sickly sailors from hundreds of years ago, but doctors in Canada are being warned to look out for the condition now, as a result of growing food insecurity.
A report published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) details the case study of a 65-year-old woman diagnosed with scurvy at a Toronto hospital last year.
The authors say the case points to the need for physicians to consider the possibility of scurvy, particularly among patients at higher risk for nutrient deficiencies, including people with low socioeconomic status and isolated older adults.
“This isn’t the first case of scurvy that I’ve seen in my career so far,” said Dr. Sally Engelhart, the study’s lead author and an internal medicine specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
My fixed income is just over $16k per year. I’ve had to downsize from a house to a bachelor appt to a bedroom, so now have limited access to refrigerator and freezer space. But at least I live in a city where I have access to somewhat resonably-priced food. The same cannot be said for those living in small towns or remote regions where prices can be double (or more) of city prices.
I’m sure that our ideas of what is not very expensive are very different.