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practitioner is now required, when notifying a case, to include
particulars of the food he suspects. All except three of the cases
occurred in the months July to early October. Vomiting and
diarrhoea occurred in more than one-half the cases, some of these
patients in addition suffering from abdominal pains, and/or rash,
and/or fever. Of the instances where more than one case appeared
in the same family, fried fish was apparently the cause in two.
and ice-cream in one. None of the cases was seriously ill, and
all made an uninterrupted recovery.
The question has been raised as to what should be included in
"food poisoning," for purposes of notification. Sanitary
Authorities are concerned not so much with the individuals affected
as with the possibility of numbers of the community suffering in a
similar manner. One criterion, therefore, might be that the food
causing the poisoning should be one which, had it been consumed
by others, would have caused similar results in them, not necessarily
of course that it should affect all, but that there is the
probability that it would have caused symptoms amongst a proportion
of them. Such a test would rule out those reactions of
the individual which are due to sensitiveness of the person to
the article of diet, not because of any fault in the food, but on
account of some property peculiar to the individual. It would
therefore exclude the gastro-intestinal disturbances brought about
by the ingestion of an article of diet by those suffering from say
gastric ulcer, and also exclude those which are manifestations
of sensitiveness of a person to some particular article shown by
their reacting to it either by the production of a rash or in some
other manner.
The bacterial food poisonings are the ones which most
commonly would be brought within the net, but in the interest
of the public there is advantage in not confining the definition
within such limitations. Symptoms of belladonna or mushroom
poisoning occurring simultaneously in a group of persons, would,
on notification, lead to the necessary precautionary measures being
taken; in default of notification it would fall to the lot of no-one to
take such action. Such occurrences as those of antimony poisoning
due to drinking lemonade from enamelware, or ingestion of sweets
treated by arsenious oxide call for immediate action. Attention
would be far more quickly drawn to such occurrences and notice
would be taken on the occurrence of fewer cases, were food
poisoning notifiable. To obtain full benefit however from sueh
notification, it should be made general. In these days, consumption
of food takes place a long way from its manufacture and
correlation can only be obtained by notification being made
compulsory in all areas, so that the occurrence of small numbers
of cases in different districts would point to the original source
of the trouble.