Six children in Lynden, Washington have been sickened with E. coli infections after attending a festival at the Northwest Fairgrounds on April 21 – 23, 2015, according to the Whatcom County Health Department. The Milk Makers Fest is held at the fairgrounds and is sponsored by the Whatcom County Dairy Women. Lab tests have confirmed three … Read more
Minnesota’s food poisoning investigators had a busy year with outbreaks in 2014, successfully tracing the cause of three separate clusters of E. coli hospitalizations and two waves of Salmonella infections. The efforts undoubtedly protected more people from contracting pathogen-related illnesses and gave victims of the solved outbreaks a chance to hold the purveyors accountable. A … Read more
Oregon health authorities have not disclosed the findings of their ongoing investigation into the September E.coli death of 4-year-old Serena Profitt and the E.coli illness of her friend Brad Sutton, 5. But Serena’s mother, Rachel Profitt, told The Oregonian in an interview that the family’s pet goat is considered a prime suspect. Profitt said there … Read more
HUS E. coli is a life-threatening disease that children can contract from exposure to pathogenc E. coli at petting zoos or other animal exhibits commonly visited in summer and fall by families on outings to apple orchards, pumpkin patches, festivals and fairs. The National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians sets a compendium of safety … Read more
E. coli HUS clusters targeting children have popped up in Oregon, Kentucky and Minnesota over the last month. A traveling petting zoo was found to be the source of an August E.coli outbreak in Minnesota that hospitalized three children and sickened 10 other people. Two of those hospitalized had HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication … Read more
Petting zoo E. coli outbreaks like the one in Minnesota this summer have been studied in the U.S. for decades. A watershed outbreak 10 years ago at the North Carolina State Fair was the worst in recent history. A total of 108 case patients were identified, including 41 with laboratory-confirmed illness and 15 who experienced kidney … Read more
Salmonella and E.coli infections from contact with animals have been reported in Minnesota this summer. Sone of the illnesses were from pets, others were from petting zoos. Thirteen people who visited petting zoos at county fairs during July in Minnesota were sickened by E.coli. Lab test showed that source of the illnesses was the Zerebko Zoo … Read more
Minnesota epidemiologists have solved a pair of unrelated E. coli outbreaks in the span of a month, first linking Applebees restaurants in the state to infections of E. coli O111 and then proving that a traveling petting zoo put seven people in the hospital. The agency responsible for the disease sleuthing is the Minnesota Department … Read more
The Rice County Fair in Faribault, Minnesota, is where five people contracted E. coli poisoning in an outbreak that infectious disease experts from the Minnesota Department of Health have traced to a traveling petting zoo. The Rice County cluster of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses expanded to a total of seven case patients — more than … Read more
E. coli at petting zoos and animal exhibits can be aerosolized, contaminating environmental surfaces in the barn or display area and possibly food and clothing of patrons viewing the animals, research shows. That’s why it’s especially important that no food or drink be brought into the viewing area and that hand washing stations with soap and … Read more