How to Make a Lasting Impression on New Friends —An Epidemiological ApproachAuthor(s): BRIAN RUSHSource: Canadian Journal of Public Health / Revue Canadienne de Sante'e Publique, Vol. 75, No.1 (January/February 1984), p. 98Published by: Canadian Public Health AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41990242 .

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HEñLTH TOPIC

How to Make a Lasting Impression on New Friends

- An Epidemiological Approach

BY BRIAN RUSH

In ciated December

with the 1981,

Department many faculty,

of Epidemiology staff and students

and Biosta- asso-

ciated with the Department of Epidemiology and Biosta- tistics at the University of Western Ontario suffered an acute attack of gastroenteritis ("food poisoning"). Subsequent discussions revealed that the disease was confined to members of the Department and their companions who had attended the annual Christmas Party. A preliminary count revealed an attack rate of approximately 50%. The common dining experience of the victims, the similarities in symp- toms, and the known incubation period of salmonella- induced gastroenteritis (8-48 hours), suggested exposure to salmonella in the food consumed at the party.

In true epidemiological spirit, several persons associated with the Department embarked on a careful investigation to determine which food was rotten, and more important, who brought it?

The investigation focused on the exact nature of each person's meal at the party. While hampered somewhat by the "pot-luck" nature of the meal and the questionable recall of some party-goers due to the effects of alcohol1, a maca- roni/tuna salad was implicated by a process of elimination. Finally, further probing sealed the case against the maca- roni/tuna salad AND uncovered the person who brought the dastardly dish. I'm sorry to say it was I!2

My own case of the disease provided the conclusive data. In my conversations with other afflicted party-goers during the early stages of the investigation, I was surprised to learn that they had not experienced any of the symptoms until late morning or early afternoon of the next day. I had begun to feel ill before the party ended, and suffered severe nausea only four hours after the party. In retrospect, I realized that I

had eaten a large quantity of the salad that afternoon as I made it. Thus, my symptoms did appear ápproximately 8-1 1 hours after the initial ingestion of the salad - a time period similar to many of the others afflicted and quite comparable to the incubation period of the disease. While this observa- tion clearly supported the evidence concerning the maca- roni/tuna salad as the source of the infectious agent, it also revealed that the salad was fully contaminated with salmon- ella at the time it was made (thus exonerating me some- what).

The most conclusive observation damning the macaroni/ tuna salad concerned a case of the disease affecting a victim who had not attended the party. Unknown to myself at the time, my mother-in-law3, visiting for the Christmas holi- days, had been nipping into the salad shortly after it was made. She was extremely sick approximately 30 hours after ingesting the salad. The occurrence of this case clearly indi- cated that the salad was contaminated at the time it was made and before it was taken to the party.

While all of the above evidence pointed to the maca- roni/tuna salad as the transmission agent, the question remains unsolved as to which specific ingredient harboured the salmonella bacteria.

Postscript I offer my sincerest apologies to those persons who were

ill as a result of eating this salad. A special apology goes to the unknown gentleman in front of me in the line-up for the food. He wasn't going to have any of the salad until I talked him into it!

Received: October 26, 1983 Accepted: November 7, 1983

'Many persons could not recall eating at all! :1 have since been relegated to bringing only rolls to all parties. ■Ml' you are going to wipe out half the epidemiology department, you might as well get your mother-in-law too.

98 Canadian Journal of Public Health Vol. 75, January/ February 1984

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