By Jessica Lindsay

Copyright metro

Indigo assumed she had caught a common cold at the gig (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

A woman who thought she caught the flu at a gig was left ‘panicking’ to learn she had actually contracted a ‘Victorian disease’ that killed an estimated 10,000 people a year during the 19th century.

Indigo Duffy began developing a sore throat after attending a ‘really hot and packed’ concert in a Brixton pub.

The 22-year-old assumed the symptom was the start of a flu or cold as she had also been to music festival the week before.

She says: ‘I was like a sick Victorian child… I had no clue what it was.’

Then, a few days later when she hopped in the shower, she noticed her legs were covered in angry red welts.

Indigo, a self-employed vintage clothes seller from Kingston, London, went to sleep and woke up the next day with a ‘burning’ rash all over her body.

However, days later she began developing a rash (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

The red marks spread across her face and neck (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

‘It was really itchy and it also really stung,’ she says. ‘It was a lumpy rash which was awful,’ she says. ‘The more you itched it, it kind of made it worse.’

After Googling her symptoms, she noticed she had the tell-tale small raised bumps on her hand, neck and face associated with scarlet fever, so swiftly made her way over to the A&E department at Kingston Hospital.

There, doctors confirmed Indigo’s suspicion, giving her a week-long course of antibiotics. But it was an diagnosis that left her ‘panicked’ due to its grisly history.

The raised bumps on her hand were a telltale sign (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

‘I was just thinking of how it was a medieval disease and how it wiped out loads of people back in the day,’ recalls Indigo.

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 – which is why it is often referred to as a ‘Victorian disease’.

The contagious infection (sometimes called scarlatina) is caused by bacteria called Streptococcus pyogenes, or group A streptococcus (GAS) could prove fatal to a whole family in a matter of weeks, according to the British Medical Journal.

Indigo was exhausted due to the disease and spent a week in bed (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

Thankfully, Indigo recovered from the disease, with the rash going away in about three days after she started the antibiotics – which she says ‘felt like waking up on Christmas.’

It wasn’t totally over though, and the condition left her exhausted with lingering skin issues, meaning she had to get moisturiser delivered to her home.

‘I just stayed on my couch the whole week.’ says Indigo. ‘My skin was also really really dry and peeling for probably around two weeks after.’

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.

She’s sharing her experience to raise awareness about scarlet fever (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

In April, the UK Health 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 during an outbreak in 2023.

Although it’s 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.

Some people also experience a red and swollen tongue with a white coating that peels, leaving it covered in little bumps (called ‘strawberry tongue’) as well as flushed cheeks.

The NHS advises you to see your GP if you or your child have these symptoms and they don’t 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.

‘Expect the unexpected,’ adds Indigo. ‘You don’t think you’re going to get a Victorian disease.’