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9
In a considerable number of the cases notified the suspected food had been
consumed by all members of the family and, as only one person had been affected, it
appeared that the illness was not due to actual food poisoning but to indigestion or
idiosyncracy. The attention of the Society of Medical Officers of Health (Metropolitan
Branch) was drawn to this matter (in February, 1933) and it was suggested that it
might be desirable to consider whether the circulation of particulars of all these cases
was of any real value. After careful consideration, the Special Purposes Committee,
to whom the question was referred, stated their opinion that the Act did not define
food poisoning in such a way as to distinguish between the term in its strict medical
acceptance and the examples of indigestion or idiosyncracy which had been quoted,
that there was always the apprehension that what at first sight might appear trivial
would eventually prove of urgent importance, and that the present procedure should be
continued in the hope that, when the newness had worn off, general practitioners
would limit their notifications to cases of true food poisoning.
Dr. W. Stott, medical officer of health for the borough of Southwark, stated
(February, 1933) that he had issued a circular to medical practitioners in the borough
drawing attention to the advisability of adopting a definite line of action in the selection
of cases for notification.
Notification of alleged cases of food poisoning should of course provide a valuable
field for investigation. Little is known of the distribution of food poisoning organisms
in nature and research into food poisoning outbreaks should result in detecting the
causative micro-organisms, elucidating their origin and ascertaining the circumstances
bv which food becomes infected.
Measles.
The deaths from measles in 1932 numbered 822 compared with 115 in 1931.
The disease became epidemic towards the end of 1931, and reached a maximum
towards the end of April, 1932. The death-rate was 0.19 per thousand.

Whoopingcough.
There were 348 deaths from whooping-cough in London during 1932 compared
with 307 in 1931. The death-rate was 0-08 per thousand.

Scarlet
fever.
There were 14,119 notifications of scarlet fever in 1932 (52 weeks), the corresponding
figure for 1931 being 12,025. The attack-rate was 3-3 per thousand as
against 2-8 in 1931. The deaths numbered 85, giving a death-rate of 0-02 per
thousand of the population at all ages and a case-mortality of 0-6 per cent.