OX TONGUE THE CAUSE?

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 81, 29 December 1937, Page 6

OX TONGUE THE CAUSE?

Plomaine Poisoning Case at Taradale

H0USEH0LD RECOVERS

The six members o£ the household at Taradale who were stricken on Monday with ptomaine poisoning are making good progress. Further inquiries reveal that an ox tongue was eaten by the sufferers and not tinned fruit, as was stated yesterday. In the case of three members of the household the poisoning was of an acute form, but for the remaining three it was of a mild nature. It appears that the os tongue was purchased the day before Christmas, and, after being cooked and pressed, was kept in a refrigerator until Monday, when it was eaten afc a cold.. lunch. The party, with one exception, left shortly after lunch for a bathe in the Tutaekuri river. Immediately after their departure from the house, the man who remained at home was taken violently ill when he was overcome with an exceptionally severe attack of vomiting. Some time later a neighbour who went over to use the telephone found him lying on the floor in great distress and apparently in agony. The party who went down to the river had been bathing for some little time before the symptoms of the poisoning came on. Some of them also became very ill and vomited considerably, besides suffering severe parn. Ia' a short time several of them had become affected and they returned home, and Dr. D. A. C. Will, of Taradale,; was immediately summoned. Two of the party who went bathing and who were visitors to the district were subsequently taken to the Napier hospital by ambulance. By the time that the doctor arrived the member of the household who remained at home had passed through the most severe stltfe of his attack. The three others ofl the party, who suffered from only a slight attack, although they had acute pains at the time, soon reeovered. In addition to those who suffered from the poisoning, two others in the household who also partook of the tongue were not affected at all. In view of the suffering endured by some of the victims they had a most* fortunate escape. On inspection later the tongue appeared to be in a perfectly fresh condition and to be quite fit for consumption. Poisoning of this nature usually follows the consuming of affected tinned foods of which none had been partaken of in this instance. Both patients had reeovered sufficiently to be able to be diseharged fro» the hospital yesterday afternoon.