Don't let your under 5 year olds touch animals....

arwenplusone

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8264266.stm

Is it just me that thinks this is really sad.

I mean I know the e-coli scare is a serious health concern but I worry now that lots of parents will refuse to take their kids to these places now. For some kids this is their only contact with animals & I think that is a very sad thing.

Another example of 'wrap in cotton wool' syndrome.
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Some of the healthiest kids I know spend all day on farmyards....
 

kerilli

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i heard about it on the news. thing is though, i suspect that 'countrified kids' have the best immune systems possible, maybe suddenly exposing townified kids to such bugs is a real health risk to them?
real shame, i totally agree.
 

1275gta

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I think most of the problem is that kids don't ever come into contact with any germs, everything is too clean so that when they do they get really sick not just a bit ill.

No chance of my daughter having that problem she has been covered from head to foot since she could walk.
 

ladyt25

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It's madness I think and could cause unnecessary panic by those who do not know enough about e.coli.

Stopping children interacting with animals is just ridiculous. There are all sorts of health risks out there, you can't put kids in a bubble and not expose them to any of them.

Yes, certainly it sounds horrible and e.coli can be deadly but then you can pick it up anywhere can't you. They've done all they can at the farms (I haven't heard that any of the employee at these places have got it interestingly) but yet again the news jump on the story and make a lot more of it than is really needed. Very sad indeed.
 

lucretia

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i agree with all the above comments but i was a city child and do not think I ever washed my hands without parental pressure (!!), played in the street, pattted anything that came past and delighted in going to Cystal Palace park where i remember they had goats, ponies and things of that nature to be patted.
perhaps we all ought to get a bit dirtier these days
 

Horseyscot

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As others have said, most people are too clean nowadays. We're farmers, we have three children, (now 10, 7 and 6). They are in constant daily contact with the animals, obviously I make them wash their hands before eating and drinking, but (especially the boys
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) can often be found munching through a biscuit before I get to them about the handwashing!! I won't describe whats on their hands at times
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I can honestly say that they (touch wood!) have never had any health problems, apart from the odd cold and tummy bugs that they pick up from school. I'm not criticising others, but basically, by not letting kids be exposed to things, when they do, sadly they can become very sick
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Oh well, yet another kick in the teeth for the farmers
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Get well wishes to all the little ones who are poorly. x
 

ester

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hear this on radio this morning
am not sure what sort of regular environmental testing these open farms have to do to try and prevent problems, does anyone know, *tottles off to google*

that would seem to be the most sensible way of dealing with it for me.
 

kerilli

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i think they said on the radio that 10% of farm animals carry e. coli.
must admit, i spent my childhood around animals and was never ill.
my nan was a cleaning freak, she cleaned her whole house from top to bottom every day (?!?!) and caught every germ that came along. (she didn't like me much either, not surprisingly, disgusting little urchin that i was.)
 

camilla4

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[ QUOTE ]
can only agree with the rest of you! I had great fun as a kid getting covered in muck on the farm and i was rarely ever ill! little bit of dirt never hurt you after all
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[/ QUOTE ]

Me too Santa - we had every type of animal going and my mother had the devil of a job getting us to ever wash our hands. Goodness knows what we consumed, but we were very healthy, absolutely no allergies and were happy!
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hettie123

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My brother and his partner live in Manchester and I have just been informed that my niece will not be allowed to visit me as I live on a small holding and she might get ill. My brother thinks that all this fuss is ridiculous but said his partner is 'freaking out'. Seems she is now googling to see what a threat the dogs are.

I can’t blame her though, if you know little about animals and heard on the news that your child should not touch them for fear of getting e-coli you are going to over-react. Prehaps some responsible reporting is required by the BBC.
 

Nickijem

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I think it is terribly sad that we are being told not to let our kids touch animals. As has already been said, we can't protect kids from everything all the time - 'scares' like this should be put into perspective. I mean every day 2 children on average are killed in car accidents - we don't stop putting kids in cars do we? Yet we don't let them play out of our sights, touch animals, or take any of the risks we used to!
 

Doris68

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Generally, I think that, as many of you have said, kids today are far TOO clean. Too many antibacterial sprays etc., so they don't get their immune system built-up like we did. I spent my childhood around horses, cats and dogs and ate a few worms in my time.......(sorry!) but wasn't ill.

My old mother used to say "You'll eat a peck of muck before you die".
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kerilli

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re: eating worms... me too, i was told. eww.
i read something a while back about deliberately giving people tapeworms (short-term), apparently it really boosts the immune system and helps the body fight back against very debilitating illnesses.
 

MurphysMinder

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I do think this is all down to the world becoming too "sterile", I grew up surrounded by animals and never had any health problems. When my daughter was 5 months old she spent quite a few hours on the floor of my whelping kennel when I had no one to look after her whilst a bitch was whelping.
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My 2 kids grew up in an animal filled house where cleaning was never top of the list, their cousins lived in an immaculate house where the vacuum was never off. Guess which children were always down with coughs, colds and tummy bugs
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TarrSteps

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Agree with all the above. We've probably all had e. coli but just didn't notice.:)

I seem to be turning into a cranky old conspiracy theorist but I've also had a related rant on swine flu. Does anyone else think it's interesting that the hardest hit group, contrary to flu epidemics in the past, are young people? People born since the mania for antibacterial wipes, inoculations against every little thing, and general fear of everything natural caught hold . . ?

Also, as some sensible soul pointed out on the radio today e. coli is in all sorts of places. There's no way of proving that people are ONLY getting it from petting zoos. So where do you stop? Keep the kids in a plastic bubble? I know I'd be upset if it was my kid that got sick (if I had any
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) but still, some sense must prevail. And with typical media hysteria it seems to have slipped mention that at least a couple of the most affected kids had "pre-existing conditions" - in one case, swine flu! (In which case, what was the kid doing at a petting zoo?)

I was with a child today who has never been exposed to animals, not even dogs or cats. His parents brought him to see the horses today and he, understandably to my way of thinking, freaked out. Imagine meeting something with a head the same size as your body as your "first" animal?? They were all pressing him to pet the horse and get right in close and not understanding at all why he might have a problem with this. Really sad. How is the child ever going to be comfortable around animals is no one exposes him in a sensible way? I felt really sorry for him.
 
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Donkeymad

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Agree with you all. I have been saying for years now that 'we' are just too clean. 'We' simply are not building up immunity to these things that are around everywhere we go.
 

Angua2

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[ QUOTE ]
Generally, I think that, as many of you have said, kids today are far TOO clean. Too many antibacterial sprays etc., so they don't get their immune system built-up like we did. I spent my childhood around horses, cats and dogs and ate a few worms in my time.......(sorry!) but wasn't ill.

My old mother used to say "You'll eat a peck of muck before you die".
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[/ QUOTE ]


My sentiments exactly..... although I didn't eat the worms, I just tried to add to the worm population by cruelly torturing them ( cutting them in 1/2).
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sunflower

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[ QUOTE ]
Agree with all the above. We've probably all had e. coli but just didn't notice.:)

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, we may well have, but not porbably E. coli O157 (or other similar strains). That is the difference. This is a relatively new strain and it is the major cause of acute renal failure in children in the Western world (and can be very serious for elderly people as well).
 

Patches

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Well mine touch calves all the time.

We don't let them near any that are scouring (as E-coli can be present in scouring calves) and we make damn sure they wash their hands after being around them.

It's not really an issue with the animals, it's with the hygiene once they've been in contact with them.

After all, we all know what nasties lurk in cat and dog faeces and yet we don't ban children from being around household pets.

It's such a sad, sad story though.
 

JM07

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total bollox.

this has happened because kids just cant be kids these days...

they are all wrapped up in cotton-wool and not able to get "dirty"


so just deal with it.............
 

henryhorn

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I think you've hit the nail on the head, kids nowadays are so protected, they don't play out in dirty places, wash more etc, and as a result their immune systems have no protection against such bugs.
My children all grew up playing round the farm yard, filthy dirty and yes, they all had a bath before bed but they must have been exposed to plenty of bugs in their time.
When a foal of ours got ecoli 125 and died we all nursed another with it, yet none of us caught it and we were doing everything from feeding to washing the poo off it's bum.
I grew up playing on fields and building sites for miles around, and what happens now, kids get taken to a "petting" farm.. madness.
 

dozzie

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Exactly you make your children wash their hands because you understand the risk. I suspect these children werent made to wash their hands by their parents because they did not understand the risk. There were signs saying the children should wash their hands. The parents should have taken responsibility for it. Maybe the signs should be more blatant.
 

Tinkerbee

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It isn't a law, it is guidelines.

The numpty, uneducated mummies who were doubting letting little Arabella see the sheep to begin with, will keep their kids away.

The normal, sane, down to earth parents will roll their eyes, tell Jack to wash his hands and carry on as normal.

Nothing much changes
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Spottyappy

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Isn't this largely down to the great Britsh press
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- as usual- blowing things out of proportion? They do like scare mongering,(eggs, swine flu, etc) and of course lots of worried politically correct parents will panic. However, the majority(PC or not!!) will still want their kids to have contact with animals, but will be abit more aware of the washing hands technique as a result?
Cleanliness will be something that my daughter needn't worry about here at our house!
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It certainly isn't a top priority.And, who doesn;t eat a sandwich or burger at horseshows without washing hands? We NEVER wash first!! Goodness knows what passes through our intestines, but thus far have come to no harm!!
 

Serephin

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I remember coming back from a few weeks holiday in India and being shocked at how clean and sterile our country was - walked into Tescos and was nearly blinded by the gleaming sterile surfaces! Preferred being in India!

As a kid I grew up with animals, getting bitten, scratched and generally filthy - never did me any harm.
 
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