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92
Food Poisoning.
During the year four cases of suspected food poisoning were
reported and exhaustively investigated.
(1) R.A.B., aged 18, a domestic servant employed in the
adjacent borough of Wandsworth, was admitted to St. James's
Hospital on the 1st June with a history of diarrhoea and abdominal
pain which had started two days previously. The patient's condition
became worse and she died in the institution on the 9th
June. Post-mortem examination revealed the presence of acute
gastro-enteritis.
On investigation it was ascertained that the patient had visited
her home, at Rochester, for the week-end on Friday, May 28th.
Almost immediately she, in common with other members of her
family, ate some tinned salmon, but none of them shewed any evidence
of illness after this meal. Enquiries were made at the shop where
the salmon was purchased, and it was ascertained that several tins
of the same brand had been sold to other customers without complaint;
that there was only one tin left which shewed no signs of
deterioration. For supper the same day fish and chips were eaten
by the family without ill effect. On Saturday the whole family
had for dinner a boiled meat pudding, part of which was uneaten
and was put away on an uncovered plate on a shelf in the scullery
in which there was a sink and copper. These shelves were also
used for uncooked vegetables, &c.
On Saturday the deceased and others ate some fish paste for
tea without ill effects.
For Sunday breakfast the deceased and her mother and a sister
ate the remains of the meat pudding. These three were all taken
ill with diarrhoea and sickness, but other members of the family
who did not eat the warmed-up meat pudding, showed no symptoms
of illness.
The post-mortem material from the organs of the deceased
was examined at the Government Laboratory, and was reported
to contain bacillus aertryche in large numbers. The evidence
therefore pointed to this being a case of true food poisoning of
which the warmed-up meat pudding was probably the cause.
Unfortunately none of this pudding remained for examination.
(2) A.J.C., aged 13, became ill on 24th July, and died in St.
James's Hospital on 25th July, after partaking of an imported egg
for tea and a small quantity of fried potato chips for supper. Enquiries
instituted in this case established that the boy had visited
the East End of London two days previously, where he had had icecream
and lemonade from a street stall. Bacteriological examination
of post-mortem material from the organs of the deceased
established the presence of bacillus aertryche, a germ belonging to
the Salmonella group, invariably associated with true food poisoning
cases. After the fullest enquiries in this case, there appeared
to be no evidence incriminating the food consumed by the deceased