Figures reveal online searches for NHS advice on common childhood illnesses increased last year.
Five of the ten most visited health conditions on the NHS website mainly affect young people, 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 3.7 million views for Covid and 3.6 million for ADHD.
But visits to the hand, fever and mouth disease page increased 46 percent from a year earlier, with 2.8 million views compared to 1.9 million in 2023, making it the third most viewed page in 2024.
Symptoms include mouth ulcers and a rash of raised spots on the hands and feet.
Slapped cheek syndrome saw the largest increase of the top ten conditions, with page views tripling.
The condition, which can cause a rash to appear on children’s cheeks, was the fourth most visited page in 2024, going from 830,000 visits in 2023 to 2.6 million last year. This followed a high-profile rise in cases in the United States.
The Scarlet Fever page saw visits increase by a third to 1.9 million, making it the tenth most visited page on the site.
Last year saw an increase in the number of searches for NHS advice on childhood illnesses, including scarlet fever (pictured).
NHS website received more than 700 million visits throughout 2024 (file photo)
The infection mainly affects young children and symptoms include a rash that looks like small raised bumps and starts on the chest and abdomen.
There were also 2 million visits to the advice on skin rashes in babies and children in 2024 and 2 million to the chickenpox page.
Dr Ronny Cheung, from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “Making high-quality information and advice accessible and regularly reviewed online and through apps is a crucial step in helping parents and carers. to take care of the health of their children.
“If parents of children with common illnesses are supported to care for them at home and seek medical help at the right time, this will help keep our children safe while reducing pressure on frontline health services.” such as GPs and emergency departments that are increasingly overstretched.”
The NHS site, managed by NHS England, is the largest health website in the UK with 701 million visits throughout 2024.