E.coli outbreak prompts safety advice for Irish petting farms

INFECT ION RISK:IRISH PETTING FARMS have been issued with guidelines for avoiding the E.coli infection that has shut down a string of petting farms in Britain.

Eighty children have contracted a harmful strain of the bacterium after visiting Godstone Farm, outside London. Pigs, goats, cattle, ponies and rabbits at the petting farm have all tested positive for the O157 strain of the infection.

The outbreak has caused anger in the UK, as health officials there had been told in late August that cases had been reported at the farm, but it was not closed until three weeks later.

Since then three other British petting farms have shut because of suspected E.coli outbreaks.

Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen and an expert on the bacterium, has advised that children under the age of five should not touch animals at petting farms, as they run the risk of infection. So far the British government has not recommended that visitors follow his advice.

Here, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, part of the HSE, said Irish petting farms are perfectly safe to visit as long as visitors wash their hands after touching the animals. Its website, hpsc.ie, includes safety advice.

Dr Paul McKeown, a public-health specialist at the centre, said: "We don't have the outbreak that has been seen in England, but that is a testament to good prevention measures."

He urged parents to closely supervise very young children, ensuring they don't eat or put their fingers in their mouths while going around a petting farm, and that they wash their hands thoroughly after a visit.

"Small children have imperfectly formed systems and questionable hygiene. We want them to enjoy farm animals, but we also want to protect them."

Mary Corcoran, who runs Turoe Pet Farm, near Loughrea in Co Galway, said the issue of toddlers touching animals had been hotly debated for years.

"My opinion has never changed. Provided there are proper washing facilities, children need not have any fears about it. We should not get paranoid," she said.