Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that visitors to this year’s Santa Cruz County Fair will find a number of fair safety precautions, including additional hand-washing stations and barriers keeping them at a greater distance from livestock, fair manager Yvette Jordan said.
Jordan said precautions are being taken after two visitors to the Calaveras County Fair reported becoming infected with the E. coli bacteria.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, E. coli can be passed in the feces of healthy livestock. To help educate the public Jordan said a "Germ City" display will be setup at the Fair where children wash their hands then look at them under a black light to see what’s left behind. If the results aren’t satisfactory, they can wash their hands again, she said.
After coming in contact with cattle or their feces, hands should be washed thoroughly with running water and soap. The fair has had no problems reported with E. coli. Symptoms of E. coli infection include fever, watery or bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and cramps. In young children, symptoms can be more severe and may lead to kidney failure and death.
Last week, Utah health officials reported that lettuce which may have come from the Salinas Valley might have been responsible for making 73 people sick with E. coli in that state in June. Three of those victims suffered kidney failure.