BRITISH HEALTH officials have warned that more children who visited a farm in Surrey could fall sick from what was last night described as one of the largest outbreaks of E.coli in the UK to be transmitted by animals.
The Health Protection Agency, which monitors infectious diseases, said yesterday it could not rule out the possibility of further children who had recently visited Godstone farm becoming ill due to the vomiting bug’s delayed incubation period.
At least 36 people have become sick in the outbreak, with 12 children aged between 18 months and 10 years being treated after falling ill. Four children remain seriously ill in hospital, of whom three are being treated in isolation. They all have complications arising from an infection that can lead to kidney failure, especially in the young.
Those infected have E.coli 0157, a pathogen that first appeared in Britain in the 1980s and to which children and older people are especially vulnerable. Like other strains, it can be transmitted through contact with animals.
Prof Hugh Pennington, an expert in bacteriology who chaired the investigation into the outbreak of E.coli O157 in south Wales in 2005, said an outbreak of this size was unusual and food was a possible route of the infection. The farm includes a tearoom. Graham Bickler, southeast regional director of the HPA, said the investigation would “cover food consumption”.
Prof Pennington said it was unclear if the peak had already happened. “The incubation period can be as long as 12 days. It depends on what caused the infection and whether the cases can be tracked back to one day, or if transmission was ongoing up until the day the farm was closed.”
He said there were about 1,000 cases of E.coli in England every year and about 100 in the south-east of England.
Godstone farm, which keeps cows, pigs, sheep, llamas and rare poultry which children can pet and feed, attracts up to 2,000 visitors a day during school holidays.
The farm’s manager, Richard Oatway, said in a statement read to BBC News: “All the staff at the farm are very upset about the E.coli outbreak and hope all the children make a full and speedy recovery.”
He added that the farm was told in August that there might have been an outbreak. – ( Guardianservice)