I caught the Victorian disease surging in the UK - doctors didn't know what to do with me

A man has opened up about his experience of dealing with a severely contagious Victorian disease on the rise in the UK, claiming medics 'didn't know what to do' with him.

The 26-year-old from Manchester claims he went through 'at least four' rounds of treatment for scabies - a skin condition caused by mites laying eggs in the skin - without a single doctor being able to confirm his diagnosis. He claims he was also originally misdiagnosed with herpes and genital warts after originally presenting to a doctor with 'itchy spots' in his groin area, but even after being told it was likely scabies, 'nobody seemed to take it seriously'.

Scabies is most known to cause itchy skin and a nasty rash, and spreads easily through skin-to-skin contact. In January, GPs warned the condition was on the rise across the country, but particularly in the north of England amid a shortage of the medications used to treat it.

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The man, who has asked not to be named, claims his GP initially referred him to a sexual health clinic in September 2023 after examining the spots. He claims he struggled to get an appointment, but was eventually seen in early October.

There, he had a number of swabs taken and was prescribed antibiotics after the spots became infected due to scratching. He quickly tested negative for several sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but on a follow-up GP appointment was told the spots could be genital warts caused by HPV, he told the M.E.N.

"I found it extremely stressful, and kind of confused as I thought, 'do I have an STD? Do I have something else?'," he said. "I had no idea what it was. All the doctors and staff that I spoke to seem to be quite confused