The Unripe Akee — Forbidden Fruit

For many years, the poor people of Jamaica have been subject to an illness, characterized by a sudden onset of vomiting, usually two to three hours after a meal. This most conspicuous characteristic and the early lack of clues to its cause earned this type of food poisoning the descriptive name of "vomiting sickness of Jamaica." A review of the vomiting sickness by Hill1 summarized knowledge on the subject up to 1952, and it was enriched by his personal observations of many patients. Hassall and Reyle2 later reviewed the literature from 1952 to 1955.Subjects with vomiting sickness were observed . . .