[p.iii] FOOD POISONING

[p.v] FOOD POISONING

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

How frequently food poisoning occurs is not definitely known. Everybody is aware that certain articles of food are now and again held responsible for more or less severe "attacks of indigestion" or other physiological disturbances that have followed their consumption, but in many cases the evidence for assuming a causal connection is of the slightest. That convenient refuge from etiological uncertainty, "ptomain poisoning," is a diagnosis that unquestionably has been made to cover a great variety of diverse conditions, from appendicitis and the pain caused by gallstones to the simple abdominal distention resulting from reckless gorging.

No doubt can be entertained, however, that intestinal and other disorders due to particular articles of food occur much more frequently than they are recorded. There are few persons who have not experienced gastro-intestinal attacks of moderate severity which could be reasonably attributed to something eaten shortly before. It is often possible to specify with a fair degree of certainty the offending food. The great majority of such attacks are of a mild character, are quickly recovered