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FOOD POISONING.
During the year, Food Poisoning became notifiable
throughout London, under Section 7 of the London
County Council (General Powers) Act, 1932, which
came into operation on the 12th July. Up to the end
of the year 41 cases had been notified. Fourteen of
these occurred in one batch in September, particulars
of which are given below. Of the remaining cases I5
were attributed to fish of some kind, 7 to meat of some
kind, and 5 to miscellaneous foods, singly and in combination.
It is perhaps too early to speak definitely
about the value of the notification of food poisoning,
but the experience so far gained is not impressive of
its usefulness. There are great difficulties in distinguishing
Food Poisoning from the numerous other ailments
of the alimentary canal, to say nothing of the
difficulty of isolating the particular article of food,, even
when the case has been definitely diagnosed as Food
Poisoning. This means, I am afraid, that much of our
time may be spent on enquiries into cases of digestive
upset, which may be useful in pointing the moral of
more judicious eating habits to the patient, but is
hardly relevant to Food Poisoning in the medical sense.
On the other hand, the notification may bring to light
in a prompter and more certain manner than heretofore
some case of genuine Food Poisoning, possibly affecting
a number of people, and may thus facilitate early and
effective action to deal with the matter.
INVESTIGATION OF AN OUTBREAK OF
FOOD POISONING.
On the 2nd and 5th September, 1932, notifications
of suspected food poisoning occurring in 14 people were
received from a medical practitioner. Three of these
were in one family, five in another, one in another, one
in another, four in another. Three more sufferers were
found in the last family, making a total of 17 cases in