ILLNESS DUE TO EATING ROCKAWAY OYSTERS. 27 



very important fact was learned during this house-to-house investi- 

 gation, and that was the absolute necessity of thoroughness, paying 

 particular attention to details, and not ignoring information which 

 would in any way shed light on the problem under consideration. 

 The average physician does not have time to obtain the proper kind 

 of a case history, which would, in many instances, give valuable data. 



Of the 13 guests who suffered from diarrhea, 6 had previously had 

 typhoid, also 3 of those who ate oysters and were not sick; thus there 

 were 9 individuals who were practically immune; however, the one 

 case of typhoid reported claimed to have had the same disease many 

 years before. 



One man writes: 



I beg to say that my wife was also a guest at the hotel, but not at the banquet, and 

 that she also was troubled for a week afterwards with severe diarrhea. She had eaten 

 oysters on the half shelL 



Another man, who was not sick following this banquet, said : 



You will see by the articles crossed on the menu that there was little chance of my 

 being infected by what I ate. I am very particular when partaking of food away from 

 home, hence the lightness of my repast. 



You may derive some satisfaction from my statement on learning that I am very 

 fond of ice cream, and on that night I ate a double portion, so that probably the ill 

 effects of the banquet came from the oysters or meats and not from the ice cream. 



Five men attended from this city and four of them were more or less affected. One 

 was positively ill for some days with all the symptoms of ptomain poisoning. At our 

 last banquet on February 9, 1912, at the same place, more or less complaint was heard 

 of the illness caused by the banquet of three months before, and there was no little 

 complaint of the quality of the food served this time. 



The oysters used at the schoolmasters' banquet were evidently not 

 so badly infected as were those used at the Minisink banquet. They 

 probably came from the water at Indian Creek on October 11, 1911, 

 or 9. days after those sent to Goshen. 



DISTRIBUTION OF CASES OF ILLNESS DUE TO EATING ROCKAWAY 



OYSTERS. 



The cases of typhoid fever and gastroenteritis ascribed to eating 

 "Rockaway " oysters, obtained either from dealer A at Indian Creek 1 

 or from other parts of Jamaica Bay, as set forth in this report, are 

 tabulated as follows : 



TYPHOID FEVER. 



Minisink banquet 17 



Rochester, N. Y 5 



Washington, D.C 2 



Suffern, N. Y 1 



Schoolmasters' banquet 1 



Brooklyn, N.Y 1 



Total 27 



i The cases ascribed to Rochester ate "Rockaway" oysters which were not definitely traced to dealer A. 

 Two of the cases credited to Washington and one to Brooklyn came from a shipper located near dealer A. 



