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31
Of the 11 single and "sporadic" cases, one was found to be
due to salmonella typhimurium, and in the remaining 10 cases
no bacterial cause was found.
The relevant information regarding the 24 persons notified is
shown above in tabular form and in chronological order according
to the date of notification.
From these figures it will be seen that, of the 24 cases,
17 were females and 7 were males, the youngest being one year and
the oldest 70 years of age.
The average interval between the onset of the symptoms and
the notification was 3.3 days.
"Food Poisoning" is not a disease ; it is merely an assumption
by a general medical practitioner that a manifestation of illness in
one or more of his patients may be due to the ingestion of food.
But such information can be very useful to the health officer
in helping him to track down cases which may prove to be the
first of a widespread outbreak. Under the circumstances it is not
a matter for surprise that the majority of cases notified as " food
poisoning " should be found not to be suffering from any disease
of bacterial origin. It is the responsibility of the health officer to
confirm or otherwise the assumption of the general medical
practitioner.
The value of notification is diminished by the length of time
that elapses between the onset of symptoms and notification ; and
in the preponderating majority of cases notified during 1953 the
patient or patients were quite free from symptoms, and all traces
of suspected food had been destroyed, by the time the health officer
carried out his investigation following notification. It is significant
that, of 24 cases notified during the year under review, 20 were
notified by one medical practitioner.
In my last Annual Report I included certain suggestions to the
catering trade regarding precautions which should be taken in the
preparation and keeping of food in large quantity. Processed and
made-up meat foods are still responsible for more than half the
outbreaks of food poisoning in the country ; and the following is an
extract from a recent publication by the Ministry of Health.
" After processed and made-up foods, the problem
presented by the use of duck eggs needs consideration. Though
the proportion of infected duck eggs may be very low the actual