The Age of Scurvy

In a time of warring empires and transoceanic voyages, sailors dreaded scurvy more than any other disease.

 A Deadly 18th Century Disease Is Making a Comeback in Some of The World's Richest Countries

In the modern world, we don't think of malnutrition as something found in wealthy countries, like the United States. And yet, a notorious 18th century disease caused by the lack of a single vitamin has been rearing its head in a nation that wastes a quarter of its food every year.

 Scurvy: is it really making a comeback in the UK?

Scurvy is on the rise in the UK and picky eating might be the cause, a recent report in Metro suggests. But is this something we should worry about? As with most things, it’s not as clear cut as it might seem.

Scurvy Is a Serious Public Health Problem

Even for people who aren’t 18th-century pirates.

Scurvy: A tale of the sailors' curse and a cure that got lost

The fact that it took such a long time to nail the true cause of scurvy tells us a lot about science both then and now, argues a new book about the disease.

Scurvy: The Disease of the Enlightenment

Victims were reduced to walking corpses, their ligaments cracking and bones turning black. But the disease’s highly unusual symptoms also included intense cravings and unbearable nostalgia. Mike Jay reviews Jonathan Lamb’s book about this ‘disease of discovery’

Children In Manhattan Got Scurvy And Rickets, 19th Century Skeletons Reveal

Also affecting the children was scurvy. We may associate this deficiency of vitamin C with pirates who could not get fresh fruit on their sea voyages, but scurvy was a real problem in early 19th century Manhattan because of the difficulty getting fresh foods.

Earliest Case Of Scurvy In Ancient Egypt Detected By Archaeologists

Earlier this week, it was reported that an infant in Spain was diagnosed with scurvy due to a diet of almond-based formula. Irritability, bone loss, and low vitamin C led doctors to conclude that scurvy, a disease generally associated with old-timey pirate stories, had caused the child's issues.

Explainer: what is scurvy and is it making a comeback?

Scurvy is caused by severe and chronic deficiency of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), and is in modern times extremely rare. But considering our current dietary habits and their association with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, could scurvy be making a comeback?

How the British defeated Napoleon with citrus fruit

The ability of the sailors of the Royal Navy to operate for such long periods at sea was remarkable. For most of the 18th century, ships could only stay at sea for relatively short periods (six to eight weeks), without the sailors developing scurvy. Victims would feel weak, bleed at the gums, old wounds would break down and they would get infections. In the later stages of scurvy, sailors would have hallucinations and could go blind before dying.

May 20, 1747: A Limey Ship, and Proud of It

1747: Aboard one of His Majesty's ships, a British doctor begins clinical testing that will uncover the cause of scurvy and lead to its cure.

Why Australians Are Coming Down with Scurvy

A dozen patients at a Sydney hospital were recently found to be suffering from scurvy—a condition more usually associated with 18th-century sailors.