![\"PIC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_268612111-1271-e1759413305812.jpg\")
\n\t\tIndigo assumed she had caught a common cold at the gig (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tIndigo assumed she had caught a common cold at the gig (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n
A woman who thought she caught the flu at a gig was left \u2018panicking\u2019 to learn she had actually contracted a \u2018Victorian disease<\/a>\u2019 that killed an estimated 10,000 people a year during the 19th century.<\/p>\n Indigo Duffy began developing a sore throat after attending a \u2018really hot and packed\u2019 concert in a Brixton pub.<\/p>\n The 22-year-old assumed the symptom was the start of a flu or cold as she had also been to music festival<\/a> the week before.<\/p>\n She says: \u2018I was like a sick Victorian child\u2026 I had no clue what it was.\u2019<\/p>\n Then, a few days later when she hopped in the shower, she noticed her legs were covered in angry red welts.<\/p>\n Indigo, a self-employed vintage clothes seller from Kingston, London, went to sleep and woke up the next day with a \u2018burning\u2019 rash all over her body<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t \u2018It was really itchy and it also really stung,\u2019 she says. \u2018It was a lumpy rash which was awful,\u2019 she says. \u2018The more you itched it, it kind of made it worse.\u2019<\/p>\n After Googling her symptoms, she noticed she had the tell-tale small raised bumps on her hand, neck and face associated with scarlet fever,<\/a> so swiftly made her way over to the A&E department at Kingston Hospital.<\/p>\n There, doctors confirmed Indigo\u2019s suspicion, giving her a week-long course of antibiotics. But it was an diagnosis that left her \u2018panicked\u2019 due to its grisly history.<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018I was just thinking of how it was a medieval disease and how it wiped out loads of people back in the day,\u2019 recalls Indigo.<\/p>\n Scarlet fever was the leading cause of death in children in the late 1880s and early 1900s, but declined significantly through the mid-20th century \u2013 which is why it is often referred to as a \u2018Victorian disease\u2019.<\/p>\n The contagious infection (sometimes called scarlatina) is caused by bacteria called Streptococcus pyogenes, or group A streptococcus<\/a> (GAS)\u00a0could prove fatal to a whole family in a matter of weeks, according to the British Medical Journal.<\/p>\n \t\t Thankfully, Indigo recovered from the disease, with the rash going away in about three days after she started the antibiotics \u2013 which she says \u2018felt like waking up on Christmas.\u2019<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t totally over though, and the condition left her exhausted with lingering skin issues, meaning she had to get moisturiser delivered to her home.<\/p>\n \u2018I just stayed on my couch the whole week.\u2019 says Indigo. \u2018My skin was also really really dry and peeling for probably around two weeks after.\u2019<\/p>\n Now she is sharing her ordeal from late last year to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of scarlet fever, after particularly virulent strains were detected in the UK this year.<\/p>\n \t\t In April, the UK Health<\/a> Security Agency (UKHSA) reported there had been 12,176 cases of the disease between January and March 2024. UKHSA stated this was higher than average for the last five years, but below the high levels seen<\/a> during an outbreak in 2023.<\/p>\n Although it\u2019s a contagious infection, the NHS notes scarlet fever mostly affects young children, causing flu-like symptoms and a rash of small raised bumps that starts 12 to 48 hours later and makes skin feel like sandpaper.<\/p>\n Some people also experience a red and swollen tongue with a white coating that peels, leaving it covered in little bumps (called \u2018strawberry tongue\u2019) as well as flushed cheeks.<\/p>\n The NHS advises you to see your GP if you or your child have these symptoms and they don\u2019t improve in a week, or straight away if you have chickenpox at the same time, are ill again following scarlet fever, or are feeling unwell after being in contact with someone who has it.<\/p>\n \u2018Expect the unexpected,\u2019 adds Indigo. \u2018You don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to get a Victorian disease.\u2019<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"PIC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_268612115-e1be-e1759413384493.jpg\")
\n\t\tHowever, days later she began developing a rash (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n![\"PIC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_268612159-7775-e1759413433581.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe red marks spread across her face and neck (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n![\"PIC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_268612244-aee1.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe raised bumps on her hand were a telltale sign (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n![\"PIC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_268612218-7e84-e1759413478829.jpg\")
\n\t\tIndigo was exhausted due to the disease and spent a week in bed (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n![\"PIC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_268612181-5d73-e1759413589872.jpg\")
\n\t\tShe\u2019s sharing her experience to raise awareness about scarlet fever (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/p>\n
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