According to WSOCTV.com, a task force in Cleveland County, North Carolina is recommending that petting zoos be banned from county fairs after an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak last year sickened 106 people in 2012. One child died in that outbreak, and dozens of children were hospitalized.
Investigators determined that the petting zoo was the initial source of exposure to E. coli O157:H7. Weather may have played a role in the outbreak, as runoff may have contaminated the area where the petting zoo was stationed. There are supposed to be stringent protocols in place for these petting zoos and county fairs. But the wash station soap dispensers were empty on the day that the child who died visited the fair. Two specific outbreak strains of E. coli were found in environmental samples taken from the fairgrounds.
E. coli occurs naturally in the intestines of people and animals. The Shiga toxin-producing strain of E. coli, called STEC, is found in sheep, goats, and cows. The infectious dose of this bacteria is extremely low, just 10 cells, and the bacteria is easily spread from person to person.
