Well, two out of three?
Posted on 04/02/2005 4:05:08 AM PST by billorites
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Shannon Smowton's trip to the fair should have ended with happy memories of carnival rides and cute farm animals. Instead, the 5-year-old is clinging to life, her kidneys under attack from the E. coli infection she apparently caught at the fair.
Shannon is among at least 22 people, almost all children, who fell seriously ill after visiting one of three fairs in Florida in the past two months. State health officials are investigating 35 more cases.
At the Central Florida Fair in Orlando, the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City and the Florida State Fair in Tampa, the victims may have had different things to eat and drink, but almost all of them touched the chicks, sheep, goats, and calves in the petting zoos.
''I wasn't thinking E. coli, but I certainly didn't want them eating fair food, so I thought popcorn and ice cream would be safe," said Shannon's mother, Kathie Smowton. ''I tried to avoid the hot dogs and corn dogs. But who would've thought the animals . . .?"
If officials confirm the outbreak began in the zoos, where animals' feces can carry the potentially lethal bacteria, this would be the latest episode in what appears to be a growing threat to public health.
''It seems to be an increasing phenomenon," said Jeff Bender, an assistant professor of veterinary public health at the University of Minnesota. ''As a result, we need to get some recommendations or guidelines out there."
According to the specialists, people who visit petting zoos must take safety into their own hands -- literally. What often happens is that a toddler will pet a sheep or goat, then stick his fingers in his mouth.''The single most important thing in prevention is hand washing," Bender said.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
It must sux getting the koodies hardcore!
poor kids!
Has anything good ever come out of Florida?
Oh! What?
This story hasn't made any sense to me since I first heard it. In the original reportings..they had also said that there were "strawberries" at the two fairs too.
In a segment on FOX this week, a health rep said that the petting zoo was ONE possibility out of several..huh? The media only relates the petting zoos to the illnesses.
I've been around livestock of one sort or another all my life..I am not buying this story as it stands.
Its just like everything else..the media tells what they want to tell. And to heck with reality, truth or hurting people who don't deserve it.
If people would only go back to washing their hands after every encounter with cooties, 99% of these things could be stopped cold. Clean water, screens, and locating the cess pit downhill from the well have saved more lives than any medication ever; and washing the hands regularly prevents nearly all disease and cooties you can pick up by casual life. All fruit should be washed before eating it and all fruit with a peel should be peeled. Didn't anybody teach these people basic sanitation?
Personally I think this entire hysteria stems from two generations of parents and children who have never been exposed to the countryside and are frightened of animals in their natural state. If this were a real matter of concern, people in the country would be suffering from it. It's the gun thing all over again.
Well, two out of three?
Having been to our state fair (NC) last fall and watching the parents at the petting zoo- as soon as the kids step out of the corral, these parents slather them down wth Purell. The kds have never had a chance to build up any immunity to anything. Also wonder if Purell kills good bacteria? We played in the barns and cow ponds and never got sck. :)
Hysteria is a good word for it I guess. And yes..I am sorry that kids got so sick. But they better make dog gone sure that it was the animals. This will evoke lawsuits, ruin peoples lives. They better make sure before they give these blatant statements.
And I do agree .. I think that just like "dumbing down" the public mentally...we have "dumbed" their immune systems down also. In some ways..we are becoming a very weakened country..society. Shove another computer in front of your kids..and another dozen twinkies. Soon they won't be able to breathe air without disasterous reactions.
I agree. This cleanliness thing is getting way out of hand. I live on a horse farm. Manure is a fact of life. We wash our hands when we come in the house. My son is 24 and was healthy as a horse coming up. It wasn't until I had him that I found out not all kids have snotty noses all the time. He was the only one that didn't have regular meds at the sitters. I watch people with their hand sanitizers and just shake my head. I don't even use anti-bacterial soap. A little dirt is a good thing.
What is the problem in Florida?
We had several cases of ecoli at the nc state fair also and they blamed it on the animals at the petting zoo there, too. I just don't see how the kids are getting sick from the critters- I'm more worried about the food- but nothing tastes as good as food from the midway! Sausage dogs, pepper steak, blooming onions, fried twinkies...
I had a thought this morning while watching a man and his lawyer, who are suing over this case. Three of his children became very ill after being at the petting zoo.
My thought was that perhaps it was actually spread from the children to the coats of the animals.
When I was a kid and in kindergarten, we were always ushered in to the bathroom to wash our hands at a large round fountain-like basin, after using the rest rooms, before meals and after playing on the play ground. All under the watchful eye of our teacher. I don't know if that is in practise anymore, but I have heard it is not. There seems to be little in the way of teaching children to wash their hands these days. I'm always amazed, also, to go in to so many restrooms at restraunts, quick stops, etc. and never find soap in them.
One of my mother's favorite baby picture of me is in my diaper at the bathroom sink on a stool that she kept there just for us, to pull up to the sink and wash our hands. I'm sure all the anti-bacterials can't be helping any, but I also wonder if children just aren't being taught to wash their hands.
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