NC E.COLI OUTBREAK SOLVED

Once again, animal agriculture manages to threaten children's very lives: "A State Fair petting zoo was the likely source of the E.coli bacteria that gave 15 children a life-threatening kidney ailment earlier this fall, state health officials said Thursday. The final report by investigators with the North Carolina Division of Public Health said North Carolina's largest outbreak of E. coli in three years, involving 108 cases, apparently originated at the Crossroads Farm Petting Zoo exhibition at the October fair. Though most people suffered milder symptoms, including diarrhea, 15 children suffered serious reactions to toxins that collected in their kidneys. The complication can lead to kidney failure and possible death. Four of the 15 children continue to receive dialysis, said Debbie Crane, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The report said more than half of the 108 people infected with E. coli were 5 years old or younger; two-thirds were under 18. Most had come into contact with animal manure, Crane said." Uh, yeah. "Most" had. In other words, "all of them" had. "Most" of them could remember and pinpoint exactly how.