Parents warned over E.coli at farms
Parents have been warned to "think very hard" about letting children under five touch animals at petting farms as more people fell ill following an E.coli outbreak.
Eight more cases linked to Godstone Farm in Surrey have been confirmed, taking the total to 57 since the bug was first identified in August.
Four farms across the country have now closed in the wake of the outbreak and experts are questioning whether guidelines aimed at preventing the spread of disease on petting farms were adequate.
These include ensuring there are sufficient washing facilities so that visitors can wash their hands immediately after coming into contact with animals.
E.coli - symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting - can be especially dangerous in young children because they cannot tolerate much fluid loss. It can lead to kidney failure.
Microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that youngsters were "the most difficult part of the population to get to wash their hands" while also "most likely to touch the animals".
Calling for a review of guidelines on petting farms, he said he was "not terribly happy" with the idea of under-fives touching ruminants such as lambs, calves and young goats. He said said parents should not "abandon the idea of visiting" petting farms, but they should "think very hard" about letting children under five touch the animals.
"We have to look very, very seriously at the guidelines that we have been running for many years and see if they need changing," said Professor Pennington, who is emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen.
Later, Professor Ron Cutler, an expert on infectious diseases, told Sky News: "The trouble with today is often they (children) don't get to touch live animals and when they do, maybe the actual conditions in which they touch them aren't as good as they ought to be."
Ten children are now in hospital but all are in a "stable" condition and "improving," the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said.
