Ouch - this is going to cut into their business big-time but it is not good that kids got exposed to E. coli.
From the Seattle Times:
Health officials limit Lynden fair events after E. coli outbreak
State health officials have restricted events at the Lynden, Whatcom County, fairgrounds dairy barn, where an outbreak of dangerous E. coli sickened dozens last month, to prevent potential spread of additional illness.
Dr. Scott Lindquist, the Washington state epidemiologist for communicable diseases, said the move is a precaution while county, state and federal officials determine the source of the outbreak that sent at least eight people to hospitals.
“We’re recommending they not have any more events until we’ve finished our investigation,” Lindquist said, referring to the dairy barn.
The request immediately affects a dog show planned for Saturday by the Mount Baker Kennel Club, expected to attract 800 canines and more than 2,000 people to the Northwest Washington Fair & Event Center.
The fairgrounds are the largest venue of this kind in the area - hope that they get this cleaned up to everyone's satisfaction. Dealing with dairy production requires scrupulous sanitation - the idea that some people willingly seek out raw milk gives me the blue-blind paralytic willies. Milk is such a wonderful culture medium for so many of the wee beasties that can kill us. Sure, we all used to drink raw milk back in the 1880's but our life expectancy was in the 50's and childhood mortality was a very common thing. From the Wikipedia entry for Pasteurization:
For example, between 1912 and 1937 some 65,000 people died of tuberculosis contracted from consuming milk in England and Wales alone.
