A Summer Fair, a Deadly Germ, and One Child's Life Taken

On Saturday, Aug. 28, Rachel Aldrich was a vibrant, intelligent 3-year-old, relishing the delights of the Washington County Fair in Greenwich, N.Y. On Saturday, Sept. 4, Rachel Aldrich was virtually...

Start victims' fund, lawyer says

Albany -- The nation's leading legal defender of E. coli victims on Tuesday urged the owners of the Washington County Fairgrounds and other potentially liable state and county officials to...

Prominent E. coli Attorney Calls For Increased Water Safety

Denis Stearns, a Seattle attorney, who since 1993 has represented hundreds of children stricken by the deadly E. coli O157:H7 bacteria, today called on Federal, State and Local officials to...

The Search for a "New Normal"

Clifton Park -- Kaylea Aldrich ran around her family's living room, jumped onto the sofa next to her parents and demanded: "Read!'' More than a month after almost dying from...

Toddler Beats E. coli Infection

Albany-- Kaylea Aldrich went home Monday afternoon, almost three weeks after being hospitalized with the same E. coli infection from the Washington County Fair that killed her older sister.The homecoming...

E. coli Takes Terrible Toll on Families, and on Fair's Future

EASTON, N.Y. - In this rolling dairy country between the Hudson River and Vermont, the farmers are fiercely protective of the Washington County Fair. Their fair has never lost its...

Legal Experts Reject Fair Insurer's Claim

Albany -- Washington County Fair's insurance company could end up paying millions of dollars in claims over an E. coli outbreak despite its contention that the fair's policy won't cover...

Back from the Brink: Families of children who contracted E. coli count blessings — and bills

Lane County officials breathed a sigh of relief in October when 23 plaintiffs - mostly parents of children who contracted E. coli infections at the 2002 Lane County Fair -...

E. coli study shows dangers at fairs

Washington, D.C. - State and county fairs may offer visitors more than corn dogs and rides. Many of the cattle, sheep and pigs are carrying dangerous E. coli bacteria, scientists...

Families ready E. coli lawsuits

Two dozen families plan to file a lawsuit today against Lane County and the Lane County Fair Board, seeking damages for illnesses caused by the biggest outbreak of E. coli...

E. coli Breakout Could Reach Courts

Eugene -The largest E. coli outbreak in state history has gone from the hospital to the courts. Fair workers cleaned out the animal barn at the Lane County Fairgrounds months...

New rules designed to prevent E. coli cases

People attending future animal exhibits at the Lane County Fairgrounds should have no trouble spotting warnings designed to prevent an outbreak of E. coli illness.Such an outbreak associated with last...

E. coli outbreak spawns probable lawsuit

Fifteen families took that first step Monday, informing officials they plan to sue over the outbreak at last summer's Lane County Fair.Nine other families may also take legal action, their...

Fair officials weigh preventive measures

Instead of banning animals from the fairgrounds or forbidding people to touch them, the Lane County Fair Board will probably stress better hygiene for fairgrounds visitors to avoid future outbreaks...

Tests suggest E. coli spread through air

The E. coli bacteria that sickened 82 people at this summer's Lane County Fair may have spread through the air inside the goat and sheep expo hall, the outbreak's lead...

Taking care at the fair

Without animal exhibits, county fairs would take a long and regrettable step toward becoming carnivals. But the fact that Oregon's largest outbreak of E. coli infections occurred at last month's...

Fair faces possible E. coli suit

As a rule of thumb, when people get hurt, lawyers and lawsuits are soon to follow.At least 73 people have become sick from E. coli O157:H7 linked to an animal...

Probe ties E. coli to sheep, goat barns

Investigators have traced the Lane County Fair E. coli outbreak that has now sickened more than 50 people to the sheep and goat exposition halls, public health officials said Thursday.Fairgoers...

Family hanging on lab results

The Johnson family of Monroe Street is playing the E. coli waiting game.The parents, Donald, a lawyer, and Leslie, a nurse, have both had their blood tested and are waiting...

More E. coli cases from county fair

Disease detectives continued tracking the source Monday of the biggest E. coli outbreak in Oregon history that has sickened as many as 42 mostly young people who attended the Lane...

Fairgoer E. coli cases on rise

More than 30 Lane County fairgoers, most or all of them young people, have been diagnosed with E. coli infection, Lane County's health officer said Sunday.Thirty-one of 39 reported cases...

Are Fairs, Petting Zoos Just Too Dangerous?

"I think counties and states may have to reassess whether it is worth having fairs, petting zoos, and other events that bring people in close contact with animals," suggests prominent...

Lawsuit filed against Crossroads Farm on behalf of four E. coli victims

RALEIGH, NC – Marler Clark, the Seattle law firm nationally known for its representation of E. coli victims, and Mark Kurdys, a well respected Asheville, NC attorney, will file a...

Child's play spreads E. coli

SANFORD -- Fistfuls of food pellets made Matthew Baldwin popular among the baby goats and sheep in the petting zoo at the N.C. State Fair.As the critters nudged and licked...

E. coli traced to fair

The N.C. State Fair is the source of an outbreak of E. coli infections that has sickened as many as 112 people, state health officials announced Monday.But the exact exhibit...

112 cases of E. coli infection suspected

Suspected cases of E. coli infection have tripled since last week, as N.C. health officials narrowed their search for the source of bacteria to last month's State Fair.Health officials are...

Local E. coli outbreak widens

DURHAM -- State public health officials disclosed Friday that a second Durham County child and one from Person County are among 20 people statewide who have been confirmed with E...

DNA tests could link fair, E. coli

Five people who attended the State Fair are suffering E. coli infections that stem from the same genetic strain of bacteria, leading health investigators closer to confirming that a visit...

State: E. coli likely from fair animals

With new reports coming in daily, state health officials said Wednesday they believe they have connected 11 cases of E. coli bacterial infection to contact with animals at the N.C...

State Health Officials Urge Residents to be Aware of E. coli Prevention Measures

RALEIGH – State Health Officials today asked North Carolina’s residents to be vigilant in following prevention measures and to be alert to possible symptoms associated with Escherichia coli (E. coli)...

Durham, Chatham children get E. coli

DURHAM -- Durham County Health Director Brian Letourneau confirmed Tuesday that the 2½-year-old Durham child was infected with a virulent strain of the common Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacterium. There...

E. coli suspected in 27 cases: State health officials open a command center in Raleigh to share info

The number of E. coli cases under investigation rose to 27 Tuesday, with 18 confirmed, and North Carolina health officials opened a command center in downtown Raleigh to coordinate information...

E. coli infects at least twelve

The number of people suspected of being infected with E. coli bacteria has risen to 16 -- 12 cases confirmed -- as state health investigators try to figure out whether...

E. coli sickens seven people

At least seven people, most of them children, have been infected by E. coli in an outbreak that may point to the State Fair's petting zoo.State health officials alerted local...

7 E. coli cases verified in N.C.

State officials Sunday night said they have confirmed seven cases of E. coli in four counties, including two in Mecklenburg, and at least two cases might be linked to the...

State Fair May Be Common Link Among E. coli Cases

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Health officials are currently trying to determine if a petting zoo at the N.C. State Fair is the common link between five children, three of which live...

Marler Clark calls for legislation to protect visitors at petting zoos

SEATTLE (April 6, 2005) – Marler Clark, the Seattle law firm representing several victims of the recent Florida E. coli outbreak, is calling on legislators nation-wide to put into law...

Lawsuits filed in E. coli outbreak

TAMPA - As the number of people who have fallen ill after attending festivals in Orange and Hillsborough counties continues to rise, lawsuits are beginning to trickle in.In Orange County...

E. coli outbreak finds eerie echo in N. Carolina

Aedin Gray tries to live like every other 2-year-old, but it's not easy scooting around with an insulin pump attached to your waist, or having your toe punctured by a...

E. coli outbreak in Florida brings scrutiny to petting zoos

ORLANDO, Fla. – Shannon Smowton's trip to the fair should have ended with happy memories of carnival rides and cute farm animals. Instead, the 5-year-old is clinging to life, her...

Petting zoo linked to illness

State health officials narrowed their focus Thursday to a Plant City-based petting zoo company as the likely source of a bacterial outbreak that has sickened fairgoers across the state.Florida Health...

Number of fair-related illnesses grows to 17

The count of people infected with a bacteria that can cause kidney failure has risen to 17 confirmed cases and 20 suspected cases statewide, with Hillsborough and Pinellas counties newly...

E. coli sickens 4 more victims

A serious bacterial ailment spread to four more victims in Central Florida on Tuesday, bringing to at least 17 the number of people suffering from the condition that can lead...

Dire warning about E. coli is necessary

Our child has been to the Green Meadows Petting Farm in Kissimmee twice. There she mingled with 300 of Old McDonald's finest.The whole concept is hands-on with the animals, down...

Illnesses connected to 2 fairs

A Collier County resident was recovering Monday, one of 14 Floridians diagnosed with a kidney syndrome possibly caused by petting zoos at two fairs.The patient's name or gender was not...

Woman certain petting zoo caused grandsons' illness

Port Orange grandmother Ava Wheatley doesn't need to see the results of laboratory tests on petting zoo animals to confirm that's how her two grandchildren picked up an infection that...

Pasco girl's death may have link to E. coli outbreak

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The state's top health official confirmed Monday that the sudden death of a Pasco County girl is being investigated as possibly linked to an outbreak of kidney...

Petting zoos being shuttered in wake of sicknesses

TAMPA - Easter events across the bay area are closing up or canceling appearances by petting zoos because of an E. coli scare that's put more than a dozen people...

Investigators focusing on dangerous E. coli strain in Florida outbreak

ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Shannon Smowton lay under a pink blanket in her hospital bed Friday, a ventilator tube taped to her mouth and a stuffed toy lamb tucked...

3 new cases of rare kidney disease found

Doctors identified three new victims of a potentially fatal kidney condition Thursday while health investigators focused on a strain of dangerous bacteria as the possible cause of their illnesses.Two people...

Petting Zoo Tests Due Monday

PLANT CITY - State agriculture officials don't expect test results on petting zoo animals until Monday as health authorities continue to investigate the cause of kidney failure among some visitors...

Lightning Strikes the Same Spot Twice

On Wednesday, the Orlando Sentinel reported that at least five children were in critical condition in Orlando-area hospitals with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a potentially life-threatening cause of kidney failure. All...

Sickened Children All Went To A Fair

PLANT CITY - Kidney failure in a half-dozen children has prompted health officials to issue an alert to families who may have attended the Florida Strawberry Festival and the Central...

7th Florida child develops kidney ailment

ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Doctors in Orlando diagnosed a seventh child with a potentially fatal kidney ailment Wednesday in a widening medical mystery that has left health officials dumbfounded.The...

E. coli attorney speaks out about E. coli outbreaks at fairs, petting zoos

SEATTLE (March 23, 2005)— Five children are in critical condition in Florida hospitals, and are suffering from a complication of what appears to be E. coli O157:H7 infections, known as...

State probes what caused kidney failure in 5 children

Five children are in critical condition at Orlando hospitals with kidney failure that may have been caused by infections they picked up at area petting zoos, health officials said Tuesday.A...

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