14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers found on Monday that animals from petting zoos can transmit the potentially deadly E. coli and other bacteria which may cause gastrointestinal illness. A study which looked at people who visited zoos in March 2005 showed that the E. coli bacteria, which causes 60 deaths annually in the United State, can be transmitted through animal contact.
Visitors were questioned about their actions, determining the behaviors which may have resulted in the infection. Among these behaviors, the most frequent were feeding a cow or goat, touching a goat and stepping in manure or having manure on the shoes.
It was also shown that people do not take simple preventions methods such as hand washing, which might prevent infection; 28% of people who visited the zoo did not wash their hands at the faucets provided for the clients. Those who washed their hands with soap after animal contact and before eating escaped the threat of bacterial infection.
Bacterial infection can be transmitted by everything that has come into contact with animal feces, including the animals themselves, which children love to pet. Also, feces carried on shoes can carry the infection home.
Marcy McMillian, an epidemiologist at the Tennessee Department of Health, stated: "There is a lot that can be done to educate zoo operators and the public. People need to know that they need to do handwashing and that when they touch environmental surfaces and the animals, they are potentially exposing themselves to pathogens."