E coli our fault or animals fault

[adrian1963]

On a visit to my local zoo Dudley a group of us visitors struck at a conversation about the latest E-Coli out break, who do you blame for it.
The owners of the hands on farms and parks or could it be the animals but then again could it be a case of it's Thier own fault (the ones that have got it that is) for not doing basic hygene
Did they wash thier hands when they left or before they put thier fingers in thier mouths at the end of our conversation it became quite apparant that we were all feeling the same as in.
If you go near animals you should always wash your hands asap especially before putting them anywhere near your mouth.
Does anyone actually know where the E-Coli came from.
As some of the farms/parks have no connection what so ever.
It's also clear you can get E-Coli from basically anything if you don't wash your hands frequently
Does anyone else have views on the matter of people washing thiers hands after touching animals.

 

[Maguari]

some of the farms/parks have no connection what so ever.

Except being unlucky enough to have an E. coli case while the media's attention is on it. It's nothing to particularly worry about - just media hype.

There's a similar thread upstairs in the 'General' Forum, where I posted the following:

It is, like so many similar issues, a case of rampant paranoia and media scaremongering. Children have to be allowed to take educated risks, or they will never have any FUN.

A world without any risk at all would be a dull place. If it starts getting to dozens of children a year getting seriously ill, then maybe I'll accept there's a problem. Until then, let's go on allowing people to take some personal reponsibility and work out for themselves if they are happy with the risk levels.

I would add that I have a suspicion these children are more susceptible to E. coli infection than they would otherwise be because they've probably been kept away from dirt all their lives by parents understandably terrified by media reports of 'killer viruses' and 'lethal bacteria'.

I'm going to stop now, as I'm starting to sound like a letter to the Daily Mail. But I think stopping children from having reasonable contact with animals is ridiculous.


EDIT: I know I said I was going to stop, but I just wanted to add that I understand entirely why the farms affected have shut themselves down for now. Unfortunately, as the modern world cannot understand risk it also cannot understand that something can happen without it being someone's fault - and there'd be nothing worse for a place like White Post than being blamed (as they would be) for a child's illness. Such a shame.

I stand by this!

 

[johnstoni]

I love the title of this thread.

 

[Zoophile]

It's neither. I blame the E-coli bacteria themselves. Apparently they live inside us humans anyway and it's just a case of them getting into the wrong parts. If I touched an animal I wouldn't be able to stop myself washing my hands about twenty times! The animals are blameless.