Children sickened with E.coli after visit to U.K. farm

Farmers in the U.K. who cater to school groups and other "agritourism" visitors are hurting this week after three children got sick from E.Coli O157 after a recent visit to Godstone Farm in Surrey, England.

BBC's Farming Today dedicated its September 19 program to the topic. One speaker, Chris Low, an E.coli researcher with the Scottish Agricultural College, made some important farm-safety comments about E.coli. This was new information for me and, according to the program, an eye-opener for many farmers.

Low says there's a common misconception that people in general are more susceptible to E.coli because we live cleaner lifestyles. Kids just aren't exposed to microbes the way they used to be. If kids get a little dirtier, they'll build up their immunity to such things. The logical extension to this thinking is that farm kids are more immune to microbes because they are more exposed it.. "With this organism (0157), that's not true," Low says. It's a relative new and very dangerous organism, he says. In Scotland, they're seeing more cases of E.coli infection coming from exposure to cattle dung in farm settings than from exposure through food, he says.

"Children under 10, especially children under five, are very susceptible to this infection," he says.

The biggest issue is fresh dung. One farmer interviewed for the program says he has separate rubber boots and clothes for his kids to wear around the yard. These boots and clothes don't go into the house. He also insists that his kids wash their hands thoroughly after being out in the farm yard. Warm water and anti-bacterial soap is enough to do the trick.

Cooking ground beef is good general advice, but for anyone living on a farm with cattle, sheep, goats or deer, E.coli prevention requires good bouts of handwashing, too.