The post you are reporting:
This ECOLI problem is spreading , now a whole series of farms are closing to the public following further cases which is clearly badly affecting kids in particular. We have had many deaths from Ecoli in the past, most notably from that butchers meat in Scotland where 20 people died..so its not something to be taken lightly.
However it seems to me that it would be a great loss for city/urban kids to never have any contact with animals at all, for fear of the worst. We've all done it havent we... feeding calves, hugging lambs, and enjoyed the experience of them licking your hands and so on, kids just love it.
But animals are riddled with the disease. Its a relatively new disease as I understand it, only coming to light 20 or so years ago but I myself spent a lot of my early life in contact with animals, animals destined for the food chain, but never caught anything, but like we said it was pre Ecoli, but not pre other nasty bugs. However it was all worth the risk. Although easy to say as I never caught anything.
Are kids today too soft, too clean...they pick up everything going. Too many baths, too many showers, too much spraying of dettol round the kitchen, too much bug annihilation by worried parents has left them susceptible to almost everything.
Ecoli lives on comfortably in cattle deer sheep etc it doesnt affect their health but affects clearly the humans that come in contact with them. It is passed through animal dung. The calf then licks/eats from the ground obviously where this dung is, he then licks the next kid along and the rest is obvious.
