E. coli O157 - UK (05): England, children's farm
Date: Sun 20 Sep 2009
Source: The Telegraph [edited]
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6211749/E-coli-cases-nearly-double-at-Godstone-Farm.html>
Last weekend [12-13 Sep 2009], 36 cases were linked to the center of
the outbreak in Surrey, with 13 children treated in hospital. The
latest figures released by the HealthProtection Agency (HPA) show that
64 people have the _E. coli_ O157 strain of the infection, with 9
children remaining in hospital.
Parents have been warned that 40 per cent of cattle herds carry the
potentially harmful infection and experts have told of the possible
dangers of allowing children under 5 to touch animals. Professor Hugh
Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of
Aberdeen, said the strain was present in cows, sheep, and goats. The
Department of Health [DOH] has asked the Advisory Committee of
Dangerous Pathogens to see if the current guidelines about contact with
animals are satisfactory.
The committee is due to meet in October 2009 and is expected to discuss
how the outbreak has been handled. A DOH spokesman said: "It will
review whether there is a need to change the current guidance or a need
for additional precautions. The risk of infection from _E. coli_ O157
through petting farm animals can be prevented by following everyday
good hand hygiene measures.
Ill health following a visit to an open farm is unusual even among
children and these risks need to be balanced against the benefits for a
child's education and development that arise from contact with animals."
The HPA has already announced an investigation into the outbreaks of
infection. An HPA spokeswoman said the number of cases at Godstone,
which closed its gates on 12 Sep 2009 and traced its 1st link of
infection back to 8 Aug 2009, rose from 57 to 64 over the weekend.
2 medical experts have voiced concern about the existing guidelines
regarding contact with animals, calling either for them to be reviewed
or for greater controls to be introduced.
Prof Pennington said youngsters were "the most difficult part of the
population to get to wash their hands" while also "most likely to touch
the animals."
"We have to look very, very seriously at the guidelines that we have
been running for many years and see if they need changing," he said.
"There is an issue here and I think the public expects that we have a
really good look at the guidelines and also at the way the guidelines
are being implemented, it is all very well having guidelines if people
are not following them."
Professor Ron Cutler, deputy director of Biomedical Science at Queen
Mary, University of London, said: "The trouble with today is often they
(children) don't get to touch live animals and when they do, maybe the
actual conditions in which they touch them aren't as good as they ought
to be." He said zoos should think about giving people nail brushes to
make sure their hands were clean after a visit.
Godstone Farm's sister farm, Horton Park Children's Farm in Epsom,
White Post Farm in Nottinghamshire and The World of Country Life farm,
in Exmouth, Devon, have all been closed.
[Byline: Caroline Gammell]
Source: The Telegraph [edited]
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6211749/E-coli-cases-nearly-double-at-Godstone-Farm.html>
Last weekend [12-13 Sep 2009], 36 cases were linked to the center of
the outbreak in Surrey, with 13 children treated in hospital. The
latest figures released by the HealthProtection Agency (HPA) show that
64 people have the _E. coli_ O157 strain of the infection, with 9
children remaining in hospital.
Parents have been warned that 40 per cent of cattle herds carry the
potentially harmful infection and experts have told of the possible
dangers of allowing children under 5 to touch animals. Professor Hugh
Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of
Aberdeen, said the strain was present in cows, sheep, and goats. The
Department of Health [DOH] has asked the Advisory Committee of
Dangerous Pathogens to see if the current guidelines about contact with
animals are satisfactory.
The committee is due to meet in October 2009 and is expected to discuss
how the outbreak has been handled. A DOH spokesman said: "It will
review whether there is a need to change the current guidance or a need
for additional precautions. The risk of infection from _E. coli_ O157
through petting farm animals can be prevented by following everyday
good hand hygiene measures.
Ill health following a visit to an open farm is unusual even among
children and these risks need to be balanced against the benefits for a
child's education and development that arise from contact with animals."
The HPA has already announced an investigation into the outbreaks of
infection. An HPA spokeswoman said the number of cases at Godstone,
which closed its gates on 12 Sep 2009 and traced its 1st link of
infection back to 8 Aug 2009, rose from 57 to 64 over the weekend.
2 medical experts have voiced concern about the existing guidelines
regarding contact with animals, calling either for them to be reviewed
or for greater controls to be introduced.
Prof Pennington said youngsters were "the most difficult part of the
population to get to wash their hands" while also "most likely to touch
the animals."
"We have to look very, very seriously at the guidelines that we have
been running for many years and see if they need changing," he said.
"There is an issue here and I think the public expects that we have a
really good look at the guidelines and also at the way the guidelines
are being implemented, it is all very well having guidelines if people
are not following them."
Professor Ron Cutler, deputy director of Biomedical Science at Queen
Mary, University of London, said: "The trouble with today is often they
(children) don't get to touch live animals and when they do, maybe the
actual conditions in which they touch them aren't as good as they ought
to be." He said zoos should think about giving people nail brushes to
make sure their hands were clean after a visit.
Godstone Farm's sister farm, Horton Park Children's Farm in Epsom,
White Post Farm in Nottinghamshire and The World of Country Life farm,
in Exmouth, Devon, have all been closed.
[Byline: Caroline Gammell]
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