The Victorian disease making a comeback, and the warning signs to look out for

A disease more commonly associated with Victorian times is making a comeback across the UK following the Covid pandemic. Gout is on the rise, with about one million people across Britain estimated to suffer from the disease.

It is a type of arthritis caused by a chemical called uric acid forming small crystals, known as tophi, in and around the joints, the Mirror reports. If these tophi make their way into the joints they can trigger an inflammation which causes irritation, swelling, extreme pain and tenderness in the affected area.

Gout was very common in Victorian Britain, but there has said to have been been a resurgence of the illness during the Covid-19 pandemic. The NHS estimates that approximately 250,000 people were admitted to hospital with the condition and needed to be treated between 2021 and 2022.

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More recently, new figures have suggested that between 1% to 2% of the British population currently suffers from gout or exhibits some symptom of it. Symptoms people should look out for include: sudden severe pain in a joint – usually your big toe, but it can be in other joints in your feet, ankles, hands, wrists, elbows or knees.

As well as hot, swollen, red skin over the affected joint, redness may be harder to see on black or brown skin. Tophi can develop anywhere in our bodies but is most commonly found in people's toes, heels, knees, fingers, ears, forearms of even in the elbow.

Successful treatment will prevent the tophi from getting any bigger, and long term treatment often gradually shrinks them. If you have very large or painful tophi, they may have to be surgically