Is scarlet fever back? Surge in web searches for child illnesses on NHS sites – and are only beaten by Covid and ADHD
Online searches for NHS advice on common childhood illnesses surged last year, figures reveal.
Five of the ten most visited health conditions on the NHS website mostly affect youngsters – including scarlet fever, slapped cheek syndrome and hand, foot and mouth disease.
Advice on Covid and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms remained the first and second most visited health conditions overall, with 3.7million views for Covid and 3.6million for ADHD.
But visits to the hand, foot and mouth disease page increased by 46 per cent on the previous year, with 2.8million visits compared with 1.9million in 2023 – making it the third most viewed page in 2024.
Symptoms include mouth ulcers and a raised rash of spots on the hands and feet.
Slapped cheek syndrome saw the biggest increase of the top ten conditions, with visits to the page more than tripling.
The condition, which can see a rash develop on children’s cheeks, was the fourth most visited page of 2024, rising from 830,000 visits in 2023 to 2.6million last year. It followed a high profile increase in cases in the United States.
The scarlet fever page saw views leap by a third to 1.9million – making it the site’s tenth most visited.
Last year saw a surge in the number of searches for NHS advice on childhood diseases including scarlet fever (pictured)
The NHS website received over 700million visits throughout 2024 (file photo)
The infection mostly affects young children and symptoms include a rash which looks like small, raised bumps and starts on the chest and tummy.
There were also 2million visits to advice on rashes in babies and children in 2024 and 2million to the page on chickenpox.
Dr Ronny Cheung, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: ‘Having high quality, accessible and regularly reviewed information and advice online and via apps is a crucial step in helping parents and carers to look after the health of their children.
‘If parents of children with common illnesses are supported to look after them at home, and to seek medical help at the right time, this will help keep our children safe while reducing pressure on NHS frontline health services, such as GPs and emergency departments, which are increasingly overstretched.’
The NHS site, which is managed by NHS England, is the UK’s biggest health website with 701million visits throughout 2024.
