Story highlights Tuberculosis rate in some London neighborhoods higher than in Iraq

Other 19th and 20th century diseases also making a comeback

Scarlet fever rate at its highest since the 1960s

London (CNN) Josie Garrett seems like a healthy and happy 24-year-old when we meet her in between classes at University College London where she is studying for a master's degree.

But Garrett is making a tough recovery from a potentially deadly strain of tuberculosis -- a disease she, along with many people, thought was a thing of the past.

Josie Garrett thought TB was "something Jane Austen heroines had."

Six months ago she was seriously ill and being treated in an isolation unit in a London hospital.

Up until recently, Garrett says she wasn't able to do anything.

"I couldn't work, wasn't able to socialize, I wasn't able to kind of live a normal life. It had a huge impact, so the idea of it being done and hopefully not coming back again is amazing," the student says.

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