著者
大平 昌彦 青山 英康
出版者
日本衛生学会
雑誌
日本衛生学雑誌 (ISSN:00215082)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.27, no.6, pp.500-531, 1972-02-28 (Released:2009-02-17)
参考文献数
66
被引用文献数
14 19

In 1955, many babies who had drunk arsenic-tainted milk produced at the Tokushima Plant of the Morinaga Milk-Industry Company Ltd., suffered from serious poisoning. The number of victims ascertained in February, 1956 covering 27 prefectures in the western part of Japan was 12, 159, of whom 131 died.The disaster was caused by the process of manufacturing the powdered milk. Disodium phosphate was added as a stabilizer to make the milk easily soluble. This disodium phosphate was poorly purified, intended for non-food industrial use, and contained a toxic dose of arsenic, sodium arsenite and vanadium compounds etc.Shortly after the disaster, numerous medical reports were published. A committee organized by the Society for Child Health (the chairman was Prof. Nishizawa of Osaka University; so it was called the Nishizawa Committee), determined criteria for the diagnosis of the poisoning; but these criteria were inadequate and erroneous from several points of view. Strange to say, debates and publications about the disaster disappeared quickly after the report was published by the Health Department of Okayama Prefecture stating that the victims had recovered completely according to the criteria established by the Nishizawa Committee only one year after the disaster.Until 1969, when Prof. Maruyama et al., of Osaka University reported on victims whom they had visited, no study had been made to ascertain whether or not there were any after-effects of the poisoning. Much fault must be found with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, with the attitude of the Morinaga Company, and with the doctors concerned, for this neglect to follow-up such an unprecedented and large-scale disaster.In 1969, the authors managed to organize an epidemiological study group with several departments of Hiroshima University and the Department of Hygiene of Okayama University cooperating and have developed joint research on this disaster as follows:1. A follow-up survey was made among victims in Okayama Prefecture between December 1969 and April 1970. 214 people answered the questionnaire and 74 were given a medical examination.2. A prospective study was made on the basis of a questionnaire on clnical complaints collected at the time of the disaster in 1955.3. A comparative study was performed between the victims and their brothers and sisters.4. A comparative study was performed among handicapped children in institutions in Okayama Prefecture, who were born between January 1st, 1953 and December 31st, 1955. The children were divided into three groups, namely those who had consumed the arsenic-tainted milk, those who were brought up on different brands of powdered milk from different companies, and those fed only maternal milk.5. A comparative study was performed among all children born between January 1st, 1954 and December 31st, 1955 and brought up in Seno district in Hiroshima Prefecture which has a relatively stationary population and where good records had been kept of the physical growth and mental development of the children in the nursery, primary and junior high schools. The children were divided into the same three groups as mentioned above. This study was performed as a joint research project by the Departments of Public Health (Director: Prof. M. Tanaka), Orthopedics (Director: Prof. K. Tsuge), Ophthalmology (Director: Prof. T. Dodo) and Psychiatry and Neurology (Director: Prof. K. Sarai) of Hiroshima University Medical School and Deparment of Conservative Dentistry (Director: Prof. T. Inoue) of Hiroshima University Dental School, and Department of Hygiene (Director: Prof. M. Ohira) of Okayama University Medical School. All clinical examinations were conducted separately under the double blind method.6. The 124 cases of the children examined in the district of Senogawa town were discussed individually by the six medical doctors and five dentists who did the examinations.
著者
青山 英康 大平 昌彦 太田 武夫 吉岡 信一 吉田 健男 大原 啓志 和気 健三 柳楽 翼 五島 正規 小野 昭雄 藤田 征男 合田 節子 深見 郁子 板野 猛虎
出版者
The Japanese Society for Hygiene
雑誌
日本衛生学雑誌 (ISSN:00215082)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.25, no.5, pp.468-471, 1970-12-30 (Released:2009-02-17)
参考文献数
20
被引用文献数
1

The authors have already reported the results of epidemiological studies of SMON in the town of Yubara, Japan.Recently, the Ministry of Health and Welfare ordered pharmaceutical companies to stop production and sale of all drugs containing chinoform, since it was revealed by the Committee on SMON that attack rates of SMON could be related to ingestion of chinoform.The authors compared the attack rate of persons who had taken chinoform with that of persons who had not.It was noted that the morbidity of gastrointestinal diseases and allergic diseases among SMON patients was higher than that of the control group.Results are as follows:1. SMON patients had not taken chinoform at home.2. SMON patients usually had taken less medication for their gastrointestinal diseases than the control group, in spite of a higher morbidity of gastrointestinal diseases among them than that of the control group.3. Accordingly, the increased attack rate of SMON might be related to administration of chinoform while in the hospital and not related to ingestion at home.4. Chinoform is a very popular drug. For this reason careful attention must be given to dosage and method of administration as well as indications to determine relationship in the etiology of SMON.5. Careful attention should also be given to the physical conditions of patients being treated with chinoform.6. If persons in the control group were subjected to a detailed investigation there is some possibility many may be found to be using chinoform contained medications.
著者
大平 昌彦 青山 英康 吉岡 信一 加藤 尚司 太田 武夫 吉田 健男 長谷井 祥男 大原 啓志 上畑 鉄之丞 中村 仁志 和気 健三 柳楽 翼 五島 正規 合田 節子 深見 郁子 板野 猛虎
出版者
The Japanese Society for Hygiene
雑誌
日本衛生学雑誌 (ISSN:00215082)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.24, no.5-6, pp.502-509, 1970-02-28 (Released:2009-08-24)
参考文献数
18

In a restricted area of the northern part of Okayama Prefecture, Yubara Town, an outbreak of SMON (subacute myelo-optico-neuropathy) was observed from the beginning of 1967. An epidemiological investigation has been made on this outbreak and the results are as follows:(1) Concentration of cases occurred in the summer of 1968, though cases have been reported sporadically in the area from the beginning of 1967. The incidence ratio against the population was 659/100, 000 during 22 months.(2) The incidence was the highest in summer and the ratio in females was 3 times higher than in males. Concerning age group, males showed a peak in the thirties, whereas in females many cases were evident between the twenties and sixties.(3) Relatively enclosed districts are apt to expand over a period of time. Cases which occurred in neighboring families as well as those within the same families tend to give the impression that the disease coule be infectious.(4) Among the cases, a close contact relation was observed.(5) Physical exhaustion before the onset of the disease was observed to be 43.2% among the total cases.(6) In occupational analysis, a higher rate was revealed among workers who had close human relations such as hospital workers and public service personnel.(7) The tendency to other diseases of the nervous system as well as those of the digestive organs was checked by inspecting receipts of the National Health Insurance from the beginning of 1965. Nothing related to SMON was recognized before the outbreak.(8) Diseases of the intestinal tract and tonsillitis were observed in higher rates in the history of the patients.(9) The investigation of environmental conditions has revealed the fact that there is a higher rate of incidence in families who do not use service water compared to those who do.