E. coli cases in Florida has now risen to 24

Apr 5 2005

The number of E. coli cases in Florida has now risen to 24 with the confirmation this week that two more people have E. coli bacteria poisoning.

A petting zoo that visited local fairs is still the main suspect as the source of the bacteria, and Florida health officials say 21 of the confirmed cases are children.

The petting zoo which is run by Ag-Venture Farm Shows in Plant City, presently has its animals under quarantine while tests results are pending, but health officials fear the bacteria may have already passed through the animals systems so they would not test positive for E. coli anyway.

Liz Compton, of the Florida Department of Agriculture, says what they are testing for now is really just a snapshot as it's impossible to go back and test on the day of the fair.

The fairs where the children were thought to have been infected happened 2-3 weeks ago and 20 of the confirmed cases have exactly the same strain of E. coli bacteria which indicates the same source of infection.

E. coli is spread either through food or through contact with contaminated animal faeces and complications can cause severe diarrhoea and serious kidney problems that can be fatal.

Dr. John Agwunobi, head of the Florida Department of Health says that although they cannot be definite the evidence of this investigation points towards the petting zoos.

Officials are hopeful that there will not be another outbreak of new cases in the area.