Tag Archives: oak leaf farm

34 E. coli O157 cases now associated with Oak Leaf Farm in Connecticut

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According to a Connecticut Department of Public Health update the confirmed cases of E. coli O157 jumped over the past couple of days.

DPH is investigating 34 confirmed cases of E. coli O157 infection linked to the farm. The patients range in age from 10 months to 45 years, with a median age of five years. The patients include six adults and 28 children 14 years old and under; 18 of the children are age five years or under. In total, nine patients have been hospitalized with four still in the hospital. Three of the hospitalized patients have been diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a rare but serious illness that affects the kidneys and blood clotting system.

A table of animal contact-linked outbreaks can be found here.

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‘Build a facility where people where people can wash their hands’; handwashing is never enough

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I’m passionate about food safety because real people – folks who are just like my family, my neighbors or the guys on my hockey team – get sick every day.

Amanda Collins is a real person. NBC Connecticut reports that Amanda and her daughter are two of at least 15 people are ill with pathogenic E. coli after visiting a Connecticut goat farm.imagejpeg_02

“I walked right in,” Collins said. “Me loving farms, I held the goats, pet the goats and brought my daughter into the stall.”

Collins said it was a wonderful experience, with a knowledgeable staff and plenty of children and their parents around petting the goats.

However, a few days after the visit, the symptoms started. At first, she thought she had a stomach bug, but when her daughter developed the same symptoms, she knew something was wrong.

“Friday is when it hit, when I ended up having inestinal pain, diarrhea, seeing bloody stool,” Collins said. “And just seeing her go through the same thing that I physically felt myself is agnozing.“

After trips to the doctor’s office and the emergency room, both she and her daughter tested positive for E.coli. She did not put all of the pieces together until she got a call from the CDC.

“That’s when it clicked and I was like I did visit a farm and I had a lot of interaction with the animals,” Collins said.

“I cried a lot,” Collins said. “I was very anxious. I was upset about it at first, but never angry at the farm though.”

Collins said both she and her daughter used hand sanitizer at the farm and wet wipes once they got to the car. She said this will not stop them from visiting farms in the future.

“The only thing I would have to said is please build a facility where people where people can wash their hands because I think that will stop a lot from spreading.” Collins said.

Reducing risk in animal contact settings is more than just handwashing. Soil, sawdust, rails and food are all vectors.

Click here for a table summarizing petting zoo and animal contact outbreaks over the past 25 years.

15 sick with E. coli linked to goats at Conn. farm

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The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) today issued the following update on the E.coli outbreak linked to the Oak Leaf Farm in Lebanon, CT: 

aok.leaf.dairyAs of 1:00 p.m. today, DPH is investigating 15 confirmed cases of E. coli O157 infection.  The number of cases could increase in the near future as DPH is actively identifying individuals who were not initially reported. 

 So far, investigators have been able to link 14 of these cases to Oak Leaf Farm.  The patients range in age from 1-44 years old, with a median age of six.  In total, five patients have been hospitalized with three still in the hospital.  Two of the hospitalized patients have been diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), as first reported last week.

 Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dispatched a team to Connecticut to assist in the investigation of this outbreak.  Today, officials from DPH, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, the Uncas Health District, and the CDC team are at the Oak Leaf Farm conducting an onsite investigation.  The Farm remains voluntarily closed to the public, and the owners are cooperating with the investigation.

 The outbreak was first identified on Thursday, March 24th when six of seven individuals sickened with E. coli were confirmed by DPH to have recently visited Oak Leaf Farm and come into contact with goats on the farm.