The Whatcom County Health Department is continuing to look for the cause of an E. coli outbreak among schoolchildren who went to the Milk Makers Fest last week in Lynden.

Um, cows? Sheep? Goats?

Six children have been sickened so far with shiga toxin-producing E. coli and up to 32 are reported with symptoms.

The Milk Makers Fest introduces young students to farming. It also gave them a chance to pet farm animals.

Meanwhile, health officials are reminding people that they should wash their hands well, especially after using the bathroom and before preparing food for eating.

“Everybody has to be careful with their hand washing,” said Greg Stern, Whatcom County Health officer.

Uh-huh.

A table of petting zoo outbreaks is available at https://barfblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Petting-Zoo-Outbreaks-Table-4-8-14.xlsx.

Best practices for planning events encouraging human-animal interactions

Zoonoses and Public Health

G. Erdozain , K. KuKanich , B. Chapman  and D. Powell

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zph.12117/abstract?deniedAccess

Educational events encouraging human–animal interaction include the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. It is estimated that 14% of all disease in the US caused by Campylobacter spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, non-O157 STECs, Listeria monocytogenes, nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica and Yersinia enterocolitica were attributable to animal contact. This article reviews best practices for organizing events where human–animal interactions are encouraged, with the objective of lowering the risk of zoonotic disease transmission.