E. coli Outbreak Linked to Petting Zoo
Always wash after handling animals, experts urge
By Adam Marcus
HealthScout Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthScout) -- Federal and local health officials are investigating an outbreak of potentially deadly Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacteria linked to a Pennsylvania petting zoo that sickened at least 25 young children.
The infection has been confirmed in at least 14 children. It is suspected in another 11 who suffered diarrhea after visiting the Merrymead Farm petting zoo, a popular attraction in southeast Pennsylvania. Roughly 10 of the children were hospitalized, and at least six had hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that sometimes follows E. coli poisoning and can lead to lasting kidney damage.
Three children are still in the hospital, one in serious but stable condition, health officials say. The other two are expected to make a full recovery.
In what may be a related incident, the newborn baby of the farm's owners died four days after birth from a mix of infections that included E. coli, officials say. However, investigators have not been able to link the particular strain of bacteria to the outbreak.
State health officials learned of the first case of E. coli poisoning at the petting zoo in September, but the zoo was not shut down to visitors until last weekend. An official at the Montgomery County health department, which is handling the investigation, says quicker action might have prevented some cases.
Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says his agency was contacted last week about the outbreak, and has sent investigators to Pennsylvania to take samples from both the animals on the farm and the affected children. "We don't know how the people got it. We're looking at food and water on the property," says Skinner.
Since the outbreak, the Merrymead Farm has posted signs stressing the importance of washing hands after touching animals. The zoo is an extremely popular tourist destination, taking in some 2,000 visitors on the weekends, and hundreds during the week.
E. coli 0157:H7 sickens some 73,000 Americans each year, killing roughly 60, according to the CDC. The infection is typically passed through undercooked meat contaminated with cattle feces, the usual route of transmission. Other animals have been known to carry the harmful microbe. Unpasteurized foods, like milk or ciders, are also reservoirs for the bacteria.
The latest outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 isn't the first to involve a petting zoo. Similar episodes have been reported in England, Canada and the United States, including one last spring in Washington's Snohomish County that sickened five children, three of whom were hospitalized.
Dr. Jan Hofmann, who investigated the Washington outbreak, says the farm where it occurred did not have sinks either near where children handled the animals nor where they ate their lunch.
"Animals obviously don't have great hygiene. Their environment tends to be contaminated with feces. And kids have pretty poor hygiene," says Hofmann, the deputy health officer for the Snohomish health district. The lesson, she says, is that, "Whenever there's contact between kids and animals, adults need to be certain that they [children] wash their hands thoroughly."
In the wake of the outbreak, the petting zoo installed temporary wash basins, which have since been converted to permanent stations, Hofmann says. Meanwhile, the state of Washington now has a task force in place to forge guidelines for petting zoos.
What To Do
Jane Ballentine, a spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, says her group has safety recommendations for its members that include ways, largely logistical, of keeping animals and people mutually safe from each other. But the association doesn't offer guidance on having sinks at petting zoos.
Even so, says Ballentine, "We always are telling people: If you've touched an animal, hit the bathroom."
To learn more about E. coli, try the CDC.
Or, take a look at these previous HealthScout stories on animals.
08-NOV-2000
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