FOOD POISONING

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13887, 12 October 1918, Page 7

FOOD POISONING

SOMETHING ABOUT BOTULISM. DANUErtS IN DIET. (By Dr. l/ouis Sambon in the Manchester Uuardian.J I iiin asked for an opinion on the outbreak ol "lood poisoning" which s'eeins in in- prevailing ;il tin' present moment m some parts ul lidiidoii. I can onh discuss the very extraordinary statements unit hnve appeared in the Press. in one nowspapor I read the report ol .. . ailer. lew with an "eminent physician." His eminence spoke of "Hotuiisin, 1 aial said it was due to "the eat. ing oi loods to which the liuinan bod> was unauccstomed.' 1 The remedy he suggested was—"Cook everything, and a-boio all, take tune in eating tin 1;.. id." ihe i sj oke the expert ol ill local (in ..1 iiiiieiu Hoard, in true oracular fasnion evading the direct question liy the sophistry ol evanive questions.

"Is it liotulisiii alter all!-" lie said; and "there is no evidence that tin disease is due to the eating ol any particular food at all.'' 'I hen lie dismissed Jus interviewer with the following meniorahle sentence: "Keep as.cheerful as possible, for depression of snii it dangon its to the health at any time, and espi c-ially in these days"! Yet in asking for information on matters ol health the Press is carrying out oiu of its most useful purposes, and the questions put liy it should ho answered ■n ail seiionsness liy those whose sacred duty it is to guard the public health 11 there had boon an unusually large outbreak ol food poisoning, which is the load that is at fault? It is certainly not canned salmon, although very inferior brands are on the market As a rule, when canned salmon, lohstei or crab cause poisoning it is found that the incriminated article was eaten some time after being turned out of the tin, therefore it should be clearly explained—and no one can do it bettei than the Press—that all canned foods. particularly fish and crustaceans, though pelectly sound when first opened, are liable to become rapidly decomposed by keeping, especially in warm weather. The rule is to consum,- such lends immediately after opening and rebelling. YK.TI.AXCK NEEDED IN AVAR TIME.

In those days of food shortage and oi frenzied adulteration it is more than oyer necessary for the authorities to he vigilant, for the public to be on guard. There are various kinds of food poisoning. Thus animals used for food may be diseased, and their meat, in certain cases, even though cocked, may give rise to infection or intoxication in the consumer. Outbreaks of this kind are not infrequent; usually \oung animals, were suffering from some form of gastro.intestinal disease or other infection, and the eating ol their flesh and offal, especially In a raw or hardly cooked condition, is liable to produce infection usually of an enteric-fever type which may last several weeks, and even cause death, though rarely. Tn some cases the disease is brought about by a gem' termed bacillus enteriditis, the toxins of which resist the action of heat, and this explains poisoning by roast veal

rir eve'i boiled meat and. its broth. Safety lies in proper inspection on the part of the health authorities, and not in "cheerfulness" on the part of the public. Another form of food poisoning i- : brought about by decomposition of sound meat due to the action of putrefactive bacteria such as the Hay bacillus, bacillus proteus, or bacilli of the [•olon group. The colon bacilli, like bacillus diteriditis, produces toxins tha'. withstand tbe action of the heat. Cari ion-eating is by no means uncommon in the human species among savage tribes, and even among ourselves then are persons who prefer game, cheese and other foods partly spoiled, but in such cases immunisation must have been gradually acquired. As a rub the eating of putrid meat causes dsease and the symptoms, although vary ins s•■mewhat with the particular kind o: gelm invested, are chiefly gastro-intes tinal. There may !x> severe headachi pains in the back and neck, even con, vuisions, but there is no fever, th< attack is of short duration, ar.d re

covery is tlic rule. Chopped-up moat, sausages and foods either hadly cured or hadly kept are as ii rule the causo. The necessary nroventivc measures are ohvious. All food showing sigtis of doca\ slioiild iir avoided. Thorough cooking may lessen the danger in some eases, Isiit not in all. BO'ITLIKM. The third nnd his' form of feod p< i soiling is Botulism—a word nvnllinglhc chief offender, the sausage, a delicious thine long ago when is used to he prepared in the f.nmhousos of our f<>:c_ mothers, n vile ahomination in th" hands of the unscrupulous. Botulism is ;! grave disease, rcsemhling poisoninn liy Hie deadly nightshade. It is due to the t< x'lis of Bacillus hntiiliniis, ■i svore-lormuig germ that only thrive; nwav from tl'e air. and therefore lurks in l:ii'"<\ :!>i"k-skmiH*d sausages and i>i cjireli ssly prepared canned foods. C;ii.ii,il vrgotnhles such as peas and 'imps have occasii nallv h»on the means of causing this fenn of intoxication, rs"eciidlv when used in the form of salad witbeut vwious rohoiluig. Th<' symptoms are unlike those of other forms ol food poisoning; they an' almost entirely referahlo to flic central nervous svstem. The-v are disturhances of vision, dryness of month and throat, difficulty in swallov ing, loss of voice, difficult hreathing, nhstinate constination. great muscular weakness. The teini'c:'at"'-e is either norm.-d or hole 1 ' normal, I'-e mind clear and undisturhed to th" 1 •■*. The whole nicture is one of gr.idnnllv developing mojor paralysis Death is hrought ahoui 'v asphyxia. The disease mnv lasi for months, and when termination is favnu'-chle certain syiic'ii'in- may persist it long time. Saumges and canned foods should he procured from well-known firms and should never he eaten uncooked. Bacillus hotulim..s gives to infected foods a peculiar odi/.ir oi rancid hutter which is characteristic. Cheese is an article of

loud thill may also give rise to Botulism. hi these days of food scarcity no doubt niitny diseases will lie wrongly ascribed to food poisoning. Not lon' ago. when our knowledge of discasccausatior was somewhat hazy, (jtiite a number of maladies were put down to food of some kind or other. Rven the itch was believed to he a food disease, notwithstandng that the itch mito had been clearly described as Aristotle moro than three hundred years before C'h'ist. One of the diseases most closely connected with war and famine is the typhus lever; indeed at one time it was calicd the "Famine lever." Fortunately, some years before the war, I was ahh to show that it is spread by vermin, and this knowledge lias enabled us to stamp it out. Of course, in vindicating tin- true etiology of certain diseases wrongly ascribed to food 1 do not in any way intend to minimise the enormous importance l of food either as an agent ill predisposing to disease or a* n factor in the healthy resistance of the body.