A goat kid from the mini zoo at Bengston’s Pumpkin Farm in Homer Glen is the source of the E. coli infections among people who visited the farm, the Will County Health Department in Illinois announced.
The department said advanced DNA testing showed a “close genetic link” between people with confirmed E. coli infections and bacteria taken from a goat kid at the farm. Samples from several mini zoo animals and from throughout the farm tested positive for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), but only the bacteria from the goat kid were closely linked to the bacteria found in people who became ill.
Health officials said they had not identified any sources of E. coli infection in the food service operations at the Homer Glen farm. The Will County Health Department said it received 270 responses to a confidential survey from people who visited the farm and reported symptoms.
Of those, 159 cases were classified as probable, and two additional cases among the five initially reported were confirmed by laboratory testing. That brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to seven.
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Source: Polski.FM
