Parents in UK angry with E.coli farm

Thirty-six cases of E.coli infection linked to Godstone Farm in Surrey have been confirmed, including 12 children. Three are seriously ill in hospital.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the size of the outbreak was unusual.

Parents say they want to know why they were not told for two weeks about an outbreak of E.coli at a farm in Surrey, which has left three children seriously ill.

Tracy Mock, from Tonbridge in Kent, described how her children, twin boys and their five-year-old sister, became increasingly ill after visiting the farm in August.

"If they had just shut the place down to investigate, my sons would not be in hospital on kidney dialysis machines," she said.

"They are still in hospital, my partner and I are taking turns to be there with them. One has had a blood transfusion. The doctors say it could be weeks until they are in a fit state to come home."

Dr Bickler said the HPA only knew with hindsight that the first case of E.coli was exposed to the bacteria on 8 August.

There was an incubation period for the disease and testing for E.coli took time, he added.

"It is a serious illness and people are rightly very concerned," he said.

 "The point I'd like to make is we can only act on what we know at the time.

"It seems to me to be quite clear that we did the right thing and gave the right advice on 3 September based on what we knew at the time."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said he would be writing to HPA chief executive Justin McCracken to demand an urgent review into how the case was handled.

"Given the viciousness of E.coli, it seems extraordinary that the Health Protection Agency didn't take this more seriously and act more quickly," he said.