Published Date: 1999-07-09 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/EDR> E. coli, VTEC, open farm - UK (Wales) (02)
Archive Number: 19990709.1149

E. COLI, VTEC, OPEN FARM - UK (WALES) (02)
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See Also

E. coli, VTEC, open farm - UK (Wales) 990627205034
E. coli, open farm - UK (England) 970725182049, 970730234611
E. coli prevalence in cattle & farm ecology (02) 981017102427
E. coli, hemolytic uremic syndrome - USA (Georgia)... 980630234356
Hemolytic uremic.syndrome - Argentina 990405162722
E. coli, VTEC & STEC: new web site available 980531092535
Enterohemorrhagic E. coli - UK(Cumbria)(04) 990318093058
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999
From: Chan Yow Cheong mailto:chanyowcheong@pacific.net.sg
ProMED-mail Regional Moderator for Asia
Source: Eurosurveillance Weekly, 8 Jul 1999
<http://www.eurosurv.org/update/>

The investigation of an outbreak of Vero cytotoxin producing _Escherichia
coli_(VTEC) O157 infection associated with a farm visitor centre on Ynys
Mon (Isle of Anglesey), North Wales (1) has now identified 17 cases who
visited the centre between 31 May and 15 June 1999. Six patients (five
children and one adult) required hospital admission, but all have now been
discharged. Five secondary cases have been identified, all of whom are
household contacts of cases. Three cases, two primary and one secondary,
developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome. A case control study intended to
identify exposures on the farm that were associated with an increased risk
of illness is being conducted the Department of Public Health Medicine of
North Wales Health Authority and by the Welsh Communicable Disease
Surveillance Centre.
Thirteen out of a total of 46 faecal samples collected from calves, sheep,
goats, a pony, and a pig by veterinarians from the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food Veterinary Investigation Centre in Aberystwyth were
positive for VTEC O157 using latex agglutination. Most of the samples were
obtained from the floor, but some were rectal. Eighteen isolates of VTEC
O157 from human cases and ten out of 11 isolates from animal samples
examined by the PHLS Laboratory of Enteric Pathogens (LEP) have been
characterised as phage type 2, Vero cytotoxin type 2. All isolates tested
at LEP show the same antimicrobial resistance pattern and the preliminary
results of pulsed field gel electrophoresis show that the human and animal
strains are indistinguishable.
Members of the outbreak control team visited the farm on Friday 25 June
1999 in order to check compliance with Health and Safety Executive guidance
(2) and their own advice, which included a recommendation that children
under the age of 4 years should be allowed direct contact with animals only
if supervised one-to-one by an adult. The farm was allowed to reopen the
next day.
Reference:
CDSC. VTEC O157 outbreak associated with a farm visitor centre in North
Wales. Commun Dis Rep CDR Wkly 1999; 9: 227, 230.
<http://www.phls.co.uk/publications/cdr.htm>
Health and Safety Executive. Avoiding ill health at open farms - advice to
farmers (with teachers' supplement). London: HSE, 1998. (HSE Agriculture
Information Sheet 23 03/98)
[Byline: Marko Petrovic, Richard Roberts, North Wales Health Authority,
and Tom Cheasty, PHLS Central Public Health Laboratory, London, England.
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