This whole e-coli farm thing...

[HeyWayne]

Is it all a bit of an over reaction?

We took Bean to one at the weekend, and it was spookily quiet - which is a shame because it's a really great place for kids.

There's plenty of places to wash your hands, and there are signs up everywhere (and I mean everywhere) telling you to wash your hands. Isn't it the duty of the parents to ensure their kids wash their hands?

I know it was easier for us to keep an eye on Bean as he's not yet mobile, but even then.

If I'm right in thinking, e-coli is always there, it's just "contained" by good hygiene. Surely that's still the case?

This latest "outbreak" as the news keep referring to it as - is not likely to have spread through animal transfer or via food chain routes as they don't tend to be working farms (in the sense that cattle etc aren't reared for food).

Is it the media spreading the bacteria?

My heart obvisouly goes out to those parents of the children effected but this hasn't sprung out of nowhere surely?

[piskieinboots]

Is it all a bit of an over reaction?

I'd say it sure is! We used to eat dirt as kids and just look at the size of us now

[zazen999]

I was saying the exact same thing.....how can all these farms suddenly infect their customers all in one week?

[lainey lou]

You are soooo right, I was saying this only last night, parents need to take responsibility and make sure their children wash their hands!!

[shirlthegirl43]

My boys both grew up on a smallholding. It was not uncommon to find child asleep in the straw while I was mucking out a stable, and they both grew up playing with baby goats and helping to feed calves and said goats. They are both fine strapping lads with hardly any health problems. I just made sure they washed their hands and didn't share the goat's milk bottles

I wish common sense would start to flourish in this country!

[TEB]

You are soooo right, I was saying this only last night, parents need to take responsibility and make sure their children wash their hands!!

You have the PC brigade come down on you, your name will be placed on a register, how dare you suggest that parents take responsibility for their own kids in this day and age -shame on you

PS

[BumbleB]

I was saying the exact same thing.....how can all these farms suddenly infect their customers all in one week?

But that is such a good point. Obviously something more than just hygiene must be involved if so many farms have this infection all at the same time. You can't then blame it on parents. Over the months and years there must always have been parents who were vigilant with handwashing etc and many who were not. Lots of children in the past must have been unchecked with hygiene etc but it is only now that there is a big problem. It is obviously more to do with the animals - something different must be happening with them.

[di]

All a load of hype & scaremongering from the media...again,and unfortunately the people that miss out are the kids & obviously the little farms that rely on younger visitors.
My heart does go out to the families that have suffered from this latest outbreak & from what I can make out,different measures should have been in place at that particular farm as soon as they knew there was a problem,but to try & blanket ban any under fives from touching farm animals...way over the top!

[Nicos]

These overreactions are a laugh aren't they??
The French have been recommended not to kiss each other so often to reduce the risk of pig flu( You kiss all your workmates as you arrive at work)...yeh right...as if that tradition would stop!

...I mean for goodness sake- when else would we ladies of 'a certain age' have the opportunity to kiss all those yummy young men ...young men

[SueA]

I agree that it seems to be the usual over-reaction. Maybe there was something in particular that was amiss at the first farm as so many children have been affected & it's awful for the little children who have ended up in hospital but I think there are probably the odd case or two all the time thoruoghout the country which pass without notice & the media hype is causing this to look like some kind of outbreak. Most petting farms & zoos have adequate signs & hand washing facilities but children are so cosseted nowadays that they seem to have low immunity unlike those of us who were brought up playing in the dirt!

[Nicos]

children are so cosseted nowadays that they seem to have low immunity unlike those of us who were brought up playing in the dirt!

Hmm...bit like Red Indians being exposed to all the European bugs- and killing off thousands of them????

( do you know it's almost impossible to buy antibacterial surface sprays here in France?...and French Drs don't hand out antibiotics in the same way as British ones)

Yup- there's nowt wrong with a bit of muck- and some common sense is there?

[bluemoon]

Just because I'm a belligerent old so-and-so I deliberately took our grandson to the local children's farm last Wednesday. I made sure we washed out hands before we ate the picnic, but then I always would have done, it's just basic hygiene and common sense. This strain of E. coli has been known about for years (as have the other bacteria which can be picked up from farm animals) it's not rare, it's not unusual and probably thousands of kids every year get a tummy bug which may have been picked up on a farm visit. I'm willing to bet that 99 times out of a hundred the two things haven't even been linked by the parents. Suddenly there's one (admittedly severe) case, everyone gets hysterical and links are being made which last month probably would not have been. There is a serious strain of E. coli which exists in manure, kids normally catch it through eating under-cooked burgers, where the manure and meat have come into contact during unsanitary practices at slaughter houses, or from raw vegetables which have had the manure spread on them as a fertilizer. Obviously in an environment where manure is present it's going to be there too.
The farm we visited had those alcohol hand wash things (like in hospitals) placed every few yards around the whole place, both indoors and out, and they've been there for a long time, not just a knee jerk reaction to recent scare stories. Children's farms know the dangers, they take steps accordingly, not just the alcohol washes, but sinks, hot water and big signs saying; 'Please wash your hands after touching our animals'. So I'm inclined to ask what the adults who accompanied these children were thinking. To my mind they are probably far more at fault than the farm itself, but heaven forbid that they would be told so and expected to take responsibility.

[HayleyB]

I think immune systems are not what they used to be, in super hygenic houses with super hygenic nonexposure to germs mean those kids are super sensitive to bugs.

[lainey lou]

you have the pc brigade come down on you, your name will be placed on a register, how dare you suggest that parents take responsibility for their own kids in this day and age -shame on you

ps

lol!!:d
...........

[gojiberry]

I haven't really read any of the reports but am aware of them. Farms by their very nature are dirty places full of harmful bacteria and parents should be aware of this before embarking on a farm visit. I have not heard anything about staff being infected (may be wrong) in which case they have either got a better immune system or better personal hygiene practices.

Ian