E. coli and the County Fair

Posted on September 1, 2003 by Marler Lawyer

There's nothing more American than the county fair. From Washington and California to New York and Texas, countless millions of people are visiting their local fairs to ride the rides, feast on cotton candy and hot dogs, and to visit those cute farm animals.


Unfortunately, some of the visitors to fairs will get very sick. And the sickest ones, most of them small children, may be close to death before their doctors identify the cause - a relatively new strain of deadly bacteria known as E. coli O157:H7.


Since 1995, thirteen outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported at fairs and petting zoos. Thousands have been sickened. Many escape with a bad case of diarrhea and cramps. But some, mostly kids, have suffered permanent damage to their kidneys.


And some have died.


A year ago, at least 82 people became sick after attending the Lane County Fair in Eugene, Oregon. Most were young children, and 22 of them were hospitalized - twelve with kidney failure.


Oregon Health Services eventually traced the infections to the goat and sheep exposition hall, and investigators believe the bacteria were possibly transmitted through the ventilation system.


In 2000, at least five children were sickened after visiting a petting zoo in Snohomish County, Washington. The cause was not determined, but the children ate their lunches after petting the animals.


In August of 1998, at least 781 people became ill after attending a fair in Washington County, near Albany, New York. Of those, 71 were hospitalized and two eventually died from kidney failure. The cause: water contaminated by a neighboring farm.


The list goes on -- Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio, each sickening people with a bacterium carried by livestock. In 2001 the CDC warned operators of petting zoos and county fairs to clean up.


So what do we do? Banish the county fair? Of course not. But fair organizers can take some rather simple and inexpensive precautions.


  • They need to clean up their act. Sanitize walkways and railings, and provide ample hand-washing areas for both employees and visitors.


  • Stop selling or allowing food in close proximity to areas where animals are on display.


  • Increase ventilation of buildings to reduce the risk of airborne contamination. Keep livestock areas damp with an approved disinfectant.


  • Screen all display animals for E. coli O157:H7 - or require that exhibitors show proof their animals are pathogen free.


  • Educate visitors. Post signs that explain to parents the importance of hand-washing before and after visiting the animals. Post tough warnings at the entrances, emphasizing the risks to small children.


    • Perhaps these precautions won't eliminate the risk to public health. But, for a minimal investment, organizers can reduce the risk of sending kids to the hospital - or worse. And, at the same time, they can put lawyers like me out of business.

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    Marler Clark Files E. coli Lawsuit Against Lane County Fair Board

    Posted on June 4, 2003 by Marler Lawyer

    Marler Clark filed a lawsuit today against the Lane County Fair Board on behalf of 29 individuals and families of individuals who were infected with E. coli O157:H7 during an outbreak at the Lane County Fair last summer.

    A number of fairs and petting zoos have been implicated in E. coli outbreaks in recent years. The Lane County Fair Board should have been aware of risks to patrons, and taken the necessary precautions to prevent this outbreak. These kids were severely injured, and many may suffer from complications of their E. coli infections later in life. Someone needs to be held responsible for what they went through.

    I recommended taking the following steps to prevent outbreaks at future fairs:

  • Admit only animals that have passed E. coli O157:H7 screening.

  • Limit airborne E. coli by not moving soiled bedding during exhibit hours, keeping stall areas damp with an approved disinfectant, and preventing visitors from entering stall areas.

  • Increase signing that makes clear the need to wash hands when entering and leaving exhibits and to not eat in the exhibit areas.

  • Increase education of the public on the risk of animal contact.

  • Increase ventilation of buildings to improve air flow per approved standards.

  • Sanitize walkways and railings.

  • Ban food from exhibit halls and areas surrounding exhibit halls.

  • Increase the number of hand washing stations and encourage the public to use them.

  • And, add warnings at fair entrances.

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    Families file lawsuit over E. coli outbreak

    Posted on June 4, 2003 by Marler Lawyer

    Two dozen people sickened by the biggest E. coli outbreak in state history filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Lane County Fair Board, claiming the board didn't do enough to protect fairgoers given similar outbreaks in other states.


    Eighty-two people became sick at the fair -- nearly two-thirds of them younger than age 6. Twelve children were treated at Portland hospitals for hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a potentially fatal complication of E. coli infection that causes kidney failure.


    Tim Outman and Kimberly Kessel took their boys, Makyah and Kyler, to the fair on Aug. 17. The parents pushed the boys through the animal barns in a double stroller. At one point, Makyah got out to inspect a mother pig nursing her piglets and put his hands on the railing of the pen, Kessel said. She wiped off his hands afterward. Kyler, now 2, never got sick. But within days, Makyah, now 4, became violently ill with cramps, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, vomiting and fever.


    They took Makyah to Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland for three days to treat his HUS. The boy avoided dialysis and blood transfusions and today seems to be doing fine, with no sign of permanent damage, Outman said. Outman and Kessel are both artists. They live in Eugene and have a studio in McKenzie Bridge. They don't have health insurance and incurred about $15,000 in medical expenses during their son's illness.


    Outman called the fair board after the outbreak and asked it to cover their medical bills. He said he was told to send a copy of the bills to the fair board for coverage. But when he called back after sending in the bills, he was told the county wouldn't cover their expenses. That's why they decided to join the suit.


    "The fair board didn't seem to use a reasonable amount of care to prevent this," Outman said. "If someone comes on our property and gets injured, the standard we're held to is warn people or make it safe, and the fairgrounds did neither of those."


    While Outman and Kessel hope their son won't have long-term health problems, many children who get HUS develop serious complications later in life and require lifelong medical care.


    Carson Walter, the 2-year-old daughter of William and Shelly Walter of Eugene, spent 31 days at Doernbecher and underwent 17 rounds of dialysis, a process that filtered toxins and excess water from her blood.


    Today, Carson "seems to be fairly stable," though she's still taking blood pressure medicine, her mother said. The long-term damage to her kidneys won't be known until she's 10 or 12.


    Madeleine Closson, 3, is doing well 10 months after she spent 15 days and underwent three surgeries at Doernbecher after she developed HUS, said her father, Kevin Closson of Portland. "That's a hell of a lot to put a kid through," he said. But she often wakes up in the middle of the night, gets headaches and routinely suffers painful stomachaches, he said, though he's not sure whether those are complications of her E. coli-induced illness.


    Lane County Commissioner Bill Dwyer said he doesn't think the county or the fair board can be held liable for the outbreak.


    "Whenever you're around animals, there's a risk you have to take," he said. "The question is, was it reasonable what the county had done? I'd say it was probably the cleanest fair we ever had. You take some risks when you allow your children to peruse among animals," Dwyer said.


    Even with the cap on damages, the Lane County Fair pays about $61,000 a year for a $5 million general liability insurance policy to guard against federal lawsuits, out-of-state claims or contractual liability claims.


    I will challenge the constitutionality of the state's "tort caps," as they're known. If I win, I'll ask the jury to award damages that would compensate at least some victims for a lifetime of medical care -- sums that would likely run into millions of dollars and exceed the state cap.


    The trial judge would then decide whether the cap applied. Whichever side lost that argument would appeal to the state Court of Appeals and ultimately to the state Supreme Court -- a process that could take years.

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