Four children are seriously ill in hospital followinga major outbreak of E coli at a popular children's farm in Surrey that led to at least 36 people falling sick with the vomiting bug.
Twelve children aged between 18 months and 10 are being treated after visiting Godstone Farm, which hosts up to 2,000 visitors a day during the school holidays. Health authorities are advising anyone who became ill since visiting the farm on 8 August, or members of their households, to seek medical advice.
Godstone Farm was closed yesterday as the 12 children, eight of them in a serious but stable condition, were dealing with complications arising from an infection which can lead to kidney failure, especially in the young.
They have contracted E coli O157, a particularly unpleasant strain which first appeared in Britain in the 1980s and to which children and older people are especially vulnerable. Like other strains, it can be transmitted through contact with animals. The Health Protection Agency said that measures to reduce the risk of the infection spreading were put in place by the farm last week but, as more cases were reported, it had agreed to close "to enable detailed investigations into the source of the infection".
Dr Angela Iversen, director of the Surrey and Sussex Health Protection Unit, said: "This is a large outbreak of this infection. The farm owners are co-operating fully and we are working closely with them and with colleagues across health and local authorities to investigate the source. Our advice is that the farm should remain closed to visitors while this work goes on. We are urging parents to follow strict hand-washing with their families when visiting these farms."
Godstone Farm, which is home to a range of livestock including cows, pigs, sheep, llamas and a variety of rare breeds of poultry, is popular with school groups and permits children to pet the animals.
The farm's manager, Richard Maule Oatway, said: "We are working very closely with all the authorities concerned and our thoughts go out to all the children who are ill."
A notice on the farm's website before the closure said "a small number of cases of E coli" in children had been reported in the Surrey area." It said that animal barns and some sandpits were being closed while tests were carried out to determine whether the infection was contracted at the farm. A sister farm in Epsom, Horton Park Children's Farm, has stayed open.
Professor Hugh Pennington, an expert in bacteriology, said this was "a very large outbreak" and that E coli O157 can be "quite dangerous" for young children, with around 15% suffering complications that can affect the brain, the heart and the kidneys. "The kidney complications can be quite severe, resulting in long-term damage in some instances," he said.
