Florida State Fair, Central Florida Fair, Florida Strawberry Festival
The AgVenture Farms E. coli O157:H7 outbreak was first recognized after two separate HUS case reports were posted on the Florida Department of Health EpiCom on March 18 and March 21, 2005. The two cases (a 5-yr-old girl and a 7-yr-old boy) both reported having visited a fair with a petting zoo (AgVenture) a few days prior to becoming ill. The two children visited the same fair and did not have any other risk factors in common. The fair (the Central Florida Fair) was held from March 3-13, 2005.
The Orange County Health Department was contacted on March 20 by a local hospital administrator, who reported a cluster of pediatric HUS cases in her hospital. Interviews with the parents of the hospitalized children revealed that all had attended the AgVenture Farms petting zoo at the Central Florida Fair or the Florida Strawberry Festival, also held March 3-1. E. coli O157:H7 isolates from the initial cases were sent to the Bureau of Laboratory in Jacksonville for PFGE typing.
A total of 22 confirmed, 45 suspect and 6 secondary cases from 20 Florida counties were identified as victims of this outbreak. All but one culture-confirmed case had isolates with matching PFGE patterns. Most cases were infected at either the Central Florida Fair or the Florida Strawberry Festival. Three cases were associated with the Florida State Fair, where AgVenture’s petting zoo was present in February. Twelve cases developed HUS. There were no fatalities.
A summary of the outbreak report can be found on the Florida Department of Health Web site.
E. coli O157:H7 with PFGE patterns matching those isolated from victims were recovered from the animal exhibit areas of the Central Florida Fair and the Florida Strawberry Festival. E. coli O157:H7 with matching PFGE patterns were also recovered from 6 animals from the Agventure petting zoo.
The December 23, 2005 MMWR discussed the Florida petting zoo outbreak, along with those associated with North Carolina and Arizona fairs in 2004 and 2005 in its report, ”Outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Associated with Petting Zoos --- North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona, 2004 and 2005.”
