Anxiety at health code call for petting farms

Open farms: I'm starting to think I'm in the wrong business

Victims: Kidney-failure twins had weeks in hospital

Its findings have led to concerns of massive complications for "open farms" and the risk parents and schools could halt visits.

And one North Yorkshire business caught up in the scare has warned there was a serious danger many visitor farms would close – and those left would only be offering a watered-down experience.

George Griffin, a professor in the University of London medical school and a consultant on infectious diseases, was asked by the last government to lead a committee investigating the series of poisonings by E. Coli bugs last summer – including 93 cases arising from a school visit to Godstone Farm, near Reigate, Surrey, and several more caused by the same potent strain of the bug in North Yorkshire.

Some of the Surrey children were left with kidney damage which might put them at risk of needing a transplant one day, says Prof. Griffin.

His report calls for a root-and-branch review of everything from supervision of hand-washing to the way animals for petting are housed.

He also suggests testing animals to make sure they are not carrying dangerous strains of E. Coli and/or vaccinating against the most dangerous strain, O157, which was at the heart of the scare.

But he warns more hand-washing would not be enough to prevent it happening again and prevention of contact with animal manure must take precedence although the report does not detail specifics about how this is done.

The Health Protection Agency, which commissioned the report, comes in for criticism for its handling of the outbreaks. Prof. Griffin says it was slow to close the Surrey farm and did not give local authorities the help they needed elsewhere.

Thousands visited the Surrey farm after the first three or four cases were known of and had officials acted sooner "a substantial number of cases ... could have been prevented." The HPA "welcomed" his report and promised to act on it.

Prof. Griffin says: "The outbreak of E. Coli O157 that occurred at Godstone Farm in August and September 2009 was the largest in the UK linked to an open farm. A total of 93 people were affected, 76 of whom were children under the age of 10.

"This outbreak could very likely have been avoided if more attention had been given to preventing visitors being exposed to animal faecal matter. Once it had started, even with prompt action, this would have been a big outbreak. Nevertheless, there was a lack of public health leadership by the Health Protection Agency and a missed opportunity to restrict the size of the outbreak."

There is a case for the various authorities concerned to re-assess their rating of the risk of E. Coli O157 infection as 'low', he says ... "Its probability may be low but the impact is high

and the consequences very severe."

The report recommends ...

Public areas on farms should be designed so that "visitor contact with animal faecal matter is minimised or eliminated".

Parents should be made aware that farm visits are risky and asked to make a clear decision to allow their children to touch animals.

An "Approved Code of Practice" and an accreditation scheme should be developed for the open farm industry.

Research should be done on: development of rapid diagnostic tests for E. Coli O157; treatment of children who develop severe complications of the infection; and the use of vaccines against the organism in animals.

Prof. Griffin says: "A new framework for the future has been asked for by a number of local authorities and farm operators and is clearly needed. In the committee's view this is essential for the protection of the public and the development of a safe industry."