Nearly 700 people in British Columbia have been reported to have a vitamin C deficiency in the past decade, according to data obtained by CBC News, prompting doctors to raise questions about the prevalence of scurvy — a life-threatening disease thought to be a thing of the past — in the province.
CBC News asked B.C.’s Ministry of Health for data on the number of confirmed cases of scurvy dating back 10 years, after the disease was detected earlier this year in Toronto and in a northern Saskatchewan community.
The health ministry said it does not collect data on scurvy because it’s not an infectious disease. Instead, it provided CBC News with the number of known instances of ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, deficiency — the closest systematically reported data it says it has.
Scurvy can occur from having a severe deficiency of vitamin C, though not everyone with low levels of the vitamin develops the disease, the ministry noted.
Natural sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, such as oranges and lemons, and vegetables such as broccoli and spinach.
‘Just the tip of the iceberg’
Scurvy is a disease that conjures images of sickly sailors from hundreds of years ago, but the never-before reported data shows it could still be prevalent in B.C.
Dr. Jeffrey Irvine, a physician in Saskatchewan who treated a case of scurvy in that province, said the medical community previously thought the disease and vitamin C deficiencies had gone away.
“These preventable things shouldn’t be happening in 2024 in Canada,” he said in an interview with CBC News.
“Canada has wide access to healthy, nutritious fresh foods. We have a good health-care system. We should suspect that everybody can get these very preventable diseases treated or at least not even get them in the first place.”
Earlier this year, Irvine suspected and confirmed one of his patients in La Ronge, a small town in northern Saskatchewan, had scurvy. He then partnered with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority to test 51 blood samples of patients suspected of having scurvy or a vitamin C defiency.
After physical exams, researchers confirmed 27 scurvy diagnoses.
Symptoms of scurvy can be seen within eight to 12 weeks of inadequate intake of vitamin C, and can include fatigue, large patches of bruising, bleeding gums, and hemorrhages that make hair follicles appear bright red.
Left untreated, it can lead to spontaneous internal bleeding, the destruction of red blood cells and, eventually, death.
The discovery of 27 cases of scurvy in a northern community is raising concerns about grocery prices and access to fresh food. Earlier this year, a doctor in La Ronge had a hunch that a patient was suffering from scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. The test came back positive. Many others followed.
156 deficiency cases in B.C. in 2021-22
According to the data, 44 people had low levels of vitamin C in B.C. in the 2024-25 fiscal year up until Nov. 30.
While documented cases are trending down for the 2024-25 fiscal year, the 10-year data shows cases are trending high overall. B.C. saw triple-digit case numbers in the last three full fiscal years.
According to the B.C. data, in the 2021-22 fiscal year a record 156 people were reported to have vitamin C deficiencies.
The health ministry said the increase could be related to greater awareness of testing for vitamin C levels.
It said it doesn’t have information on the total number of tests performed during the same period.
B.C.’s health ministry has not released the specific areas where scurvy has been detected but says it doesn’t believe there are “significant differences in the number of scurvy cases across regions.”
Calls for more testing
Based on his experience in Saskatchewan, Irvine said he thinks there should be more testing for scurvy in B.C.
He said he wants to conduct a study that would test a larger population for scurvy in his province.
However, Irvine noted that the blood test for vitamin C has complications. The blood sample has to be kept away from light immediately and has to be frozen quite quickly with dry ice at –70 C.
Irvine said some remote or smaller communities may not have the infrastructure for that.
“Still, recognizing some of the limitations of the test, it’s still so important to do the test,” he said.
“More testing will allow us to know more about how broad this problem is. We’re pretty sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Dr. Tim Senior, a general physician and medical advisor for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in Australia, where scurvy has also been detected this year, agrees.
He told CBC News scurvy patients can often have other health issues too.
“From a health-care perspective, it’s a flag to think, ‘what else might be going on for this person? How else do we need to help them as well?'” Senior said.
“So, it’s a really important issue in itself, but also as a symbol for what other problems that person may also be having.”
In October, a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal said a 65-year-old woman was diagnosed with scurvy at a Toronto hospital last year.
The woman — who was described as socially isolated with little family support and limited mobility — had been living almost entirely on canned soup, canned tuna, white bread and processed cheese, with no fresh produce.
