Tag Archives: Milk Makers Fest

60 sickened: Lawsuit filed in Wash. fair E. coli outbreak

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The Bellingham Herald reports that the families of six children sickened in the E. coli outbreak at the Milk Makers Fest last April are suing the organizer of the event, the organization behind the Lynden fairgrounds, and the Lynden School District.

handwash.UK.petting.zoo.09A total of 60 people likely were ill, according to a report issued by the CDC in October.

The lawsuit is being filed in Whatcom County Superior Court against the Whatcom County Dairy Women, Northwest Washington Fair Association and the Lynden School District.

It argues that the organizations failed to protect children from being infected by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7, the strain that sickened them, because they didn’t follow established public health rules and guidelines, including from the National Association of State Public Heath Veterinarians and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such measures are meant to reduce illness in people who come into contact with farm animals.

“Why don’t you do what the law says you should do and what public health has indicated works?” said attorney Bruce Clark, who represents the families, in an interview.

He said there was an enormous wealth of information that showed this outbreak could have been prevented. “It’s a darn shame it happened,” Clark said.

Attorneys for the organizations couldn’t be reached for comment on the lawsuit.

About 1,325 Whatcom County first-grade students, plus the teachers and parents who accompanied them, from all school districts in Whatcom County went to the Milk Makers Fest April 21-23 at the Northwest Washington Fair & Event Center in Lynden. The festival had been going on for 22 years by then.

The event was designed to introduce young students to farming. It also gave them a chance to pet farm animals, including small horses, sheep, rabbits, chickens and a calf. There was a hay maze and scavenger hunt as well.

People who helped set up and take down the event — on April 20 and 24 — also were among those who were sickened. Some of those who attended the event later spread it to others who hadn’t, including family members.

Of the total number of people who were ill, 25 were confirmed through tests and 35 were probable. Eleven were hospitalized. Six developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication. No one died.

The organizations also didn’t make sure all children washed their hands with soap and water after leaving the dairy barn and before eating or drinking, nor were they told to keep their fingers out of their mouths until they washed their hands, according to the lawsuit.

The CDC report in October stated that animals, including cattle, had been exhibited in the barn during previous events and that before the dairy education event, tractors, scrapers and leaf blowers were used to move manure to a bunker at the north end of the barn.

The group that used the barn before that was identified as the Whatcom Youth Fair in the lawsuit, which states that the fairgrounds had given the group the option of cleaning the barn themselves or paying a fee to have it cleaned.

“You’re basically blowing bacteria through your facility,” Clark said of using leaf blowers.

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 62:90-99, 2015

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.

petting.zoo.guidelines

Handwashing is never enough: 60 sickened in E. coli outbreak at Washington fairgrounds

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A total of 60 people likely were sickened during an E. coli outbreak at the Milk Makers Fest in April, according to a report issued Friday, Oct. 30, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fair E coli 1About 1,325 Whatcom County first-grade students, plus the teachers and parents who accompanied them, from all school districts in Whatcom County went to the annual event April 21-23 at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds in Lynden.

The event was designed to introduce young students to farming. It also gave them a chance to pet farm animals, including small horses, sheep, rabbits, chickens and a calf. There was a hay maze and scavenger hunt as well.

People who helped set up and take down the event — on April 20 and April 24 — also were among those who were sickened.

The new report provided additional details about the incident.

A preliminary report was put out in June by health officials investigating the outbreak, and the findings were similar. Whatcom County and state health departments as well as the CDC were the investigators.

The CDC’s Oct. 30 report found that:

▪ Of the total number of people who were ill, 25 were confirmed through tests and 35 were probable. Eleven were hospitalized. Six developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication. There were no deaths.

In the earlier stages of the investigation, health officials identified cases that were confirmed or probable. Then they switched to confirmed cases only. The latest report returned to tracking both types of cases.

▪ Forty people who attended the event were sickened — 35 first-graders, three high school students, one parent and one teacher.

Twenty secondary cases — people who had contact with someone who went to the Milk Makers Fest — were identified in 14 siblings, four caretakers and two cousins of those who went to the event, the CDC wrote.

▪ The strain of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157: H7 that caused an outbreak was found in the north end of the dairy barn where the Milk Makers Fest was held, which was reported previously.

“Animals, including cattle, had been exhibited in the barn during previous events. Before the dairy education event, tractors, scrapers, and leaf blowers were used to move manure to a bunker at the north end of the barn,” the CDC reported stated.

▪ While it wasn’t possible to disinfect the barn, steps could have been taken to minimize risk, including hand-washing.

“Students attending the setup and breakdown might have had higher rates of illness because they consumed food in the barn and might not have washed their hands before eating,” the CDC stated. “Facility cleaning procedures and location of the manure bunker (inside the barn) might have contributed to an increased risk for infection among the attendees.”

What jumps out is leaf blowers used to move manure. That’s going to aerosolize and E. coli in the cow poop and no amount of handwashing will remove it.

Be the bug, think where these things are going to go and how they are going to make people barf.

34 sickened: Dairy barn likely source of E. coli outbreak in Washington state

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The strain of E. coli O157:H7 that caused an outbreak among people at the Milk Makers Fest in April has been found in the north end of the dairy barn where the event was held, according to a report released Wednesday, June 3.

royal.petting.zoo“The bottom line here is we can’t expect an environment like a barn to ever be completely free of pathogenic bacteria,” said Tom Kunesh, environmental health supervisor for the Whatcom County Health Department.

So why take little kids into that environment, as schools routinely do?

About 1,325 Whatcom County first-grade students, plus the teachers and parents who accompanied them, from all school districts in Whatcom County went to the annual event April 21-23 at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds in Lynden.

Disease investigators calculated case counts based only on lab-confirmed infection with E. coli O157:H7 or physician-diagnosed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure.

  • 25 people were confirmed cases.

o          9 of these cases were considered secondary cases (the ill person didn’t attend the event but had close contact with someone who did attend).

  • No one died.
  • 10 people were hospitalized.
  • 6 people developed HUS.

Multiple samples from the environment where the event was held were collected on two different days (April 30 and May 13) and submitted for laboratory testing. The samples indicated that several areas of the north end of the Dairy Barn at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds were contaminated with the same strain of E. coli that made people ill. Negative results do not rule out contamination in other parts of the barn.

The outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 was identified in the following areas of the Dairy Barn:

  • Manure bunker
  • Hay maze area
  • Bleachers by east wall
  • Bleachers by west wall

Any environment where animals have been kept, such as barns, should be considered contaminated. E.coli O157 can survive in the environment up to 42 weeks (Varma, 2003 JAMA).

As part of the investigation, officials interviewed many of the confirmed cases to find out what they did during the event before they got ill. Officials also interviewed “controls,” meaning people who attended the Milk Makers Fest but did not get ill to find out what they might have done differently.

The results of analyzing the data collected during the interviews are not final, but a few preliminary findings stand out:

  • Event attendees who reported washing or sanitizing their hands before eating lunch were less likely to become ill.
  • Children who reported always biting their nails were more likely to become ill.
  • Leaving animal areas without washing hands might have contributed to an increased risk of transmission.
  • Eating in animal areas might have contributed to an increased risk of transmission.

Recommendations for Event Organizers:

  • Evaluate and update plans for cleaning and disinfection before, during, and after events, particularly surfaces with high levels of hand contact (such as seats, door or fence handles, and hand railings).
  • Evaluate and update measures to restrict access to areas more likely to be contaminated with animal manure.

o          This is especially important for people at higher risk for severe illness. These people include young children, pregnant women, adults older than 65, and people with weakened immune systems.

  • Ensure access to hand washing facilities with soap, running water, and disposable towels.
  • Display signs and use other reminders to attendees to wash hands when leaving animal areas.
  • Store, prepare, or serve food and beverages only in non-animal areas.

 

Handwashing is never enough: 32 suspected sick from WA animal contact area

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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.

MILK_MAKERS_FEST_020.aurora_standalone.prod_affiliate.39Um, 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.