How the E-coli farm outbreak unfolded
Updated on 14 September 2009
Angry parents demand answers after 12 children are hospitalised following an E-coli outbreak at a farm in Surrey. Here are the key events in the outbreak.
The first case of E-coli linked to Godstone Farm in Surrey was reported two-and-a-half weeks ago. Find out information about E-coli here.
Here is how the situation, leading to the farm's closure to the public, unfolded:
- 27 August: Surrey-Sussex Health Protection Unit (HPU) received a laboratory report of a case of E-coli O157. It emerges, after investigation from Environmental Health officers, that the person had visited Godstone Farm.
- 28 August: Environmental Health Officers contacted staff at the farm to advise them to remind visitors to wash their hands after petting animals.
- 1 September: Three further cases are reported to the HPU, including that of a person who visited the farm on 8 August, believed to be the earliest incidence of E-coli in this outbreak. A visit to the farm is arranged for 3 September.
- 3 September: Environmental Health Officers and Health Protection Agency officials inspect the farm and tell managers that contact with high-risk animals should cease. Four further cases are reported to the HPU.
- 4-11 September: More cases are reported to the HPU, but all had visited the farm before control measures were introduced on 3 September.
- 11 September: In the late afternoon, the HPU learns of a case who visited the farm on 4 September. The farm is advised to close.
- 12 September: The farm is closed to the public, with messages on its website and telephone line informing visitors of the outbreak. The HPA says four children are seriously ill in hospital.
- 13 September: The condition of one of the children improves, leaving three seriously ill. Farm manager Richard Oatway speaks of the farm's commitment to safety.
