Midland farm could be source of sickness bug
A POPULAR family farm has said it may be the source of a highly infectious sickness and diarrhoea bug which has led to a number of visitors becoming unwell.
Gannow Farm in Inkberrow, near Redditch in Worcestershire, posted on social media that it believed it was likely to be the source of a cryptosporidium outbreak – caused by a parasite which is resistant to chlorine.
The countryside venue, which would have seen an influx of visitors over the Easter break, said it had been contacted by visitors to say they had become unwell after a visit.
The illness is often seen in children aged one to five and can be caused by contact with infected lambs and calves during visits to open farm, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on its website.
Gannow Farm said it contacted Environmental Health inspectors early on Monday, April 8, as it suspected it might be spreading infection.
In a post on its Facebook pages the attraction said it was ‘deeply saddened’ by the incident and posted: “Gannow Farm are very sad to report we have been contacted by several people informing us they have become unwell after visiting the farm.
“It seems highly likely we are the probable source of a bug called cryptosporidium which has made a number of our visitors ill with sickness and diarrhoea.
“We are deeply saddened to hear anyone has become unwell since visiting the farm as we have made every precaution possible to prevent this, we hope that anyone who is poorly gets well soon.
“We believe we may have encouraged the spread of infection by the amount of people on the farm.
“We contacted environmental health at 8.15 am on Monday 8th to inform them we suspected we might be spreading some infection.
“We have received confirmation this morning from environmental health that a diagnosis has been made for cryptosporidium.”
One visitor, Beckie Foster, said she had ended up in hospital.
She said: “I’ve been so poorly for over a week, resulting in severe dehydration and hospital.
“We love Gannow Farm and came twice last year with no issues.
“But we were unlucky this year despite hand washing and getting changed.”
Helen Adams said: “Both my two children started feeling poorly Saturday evening with sickness and diarrhoea that was five days after our visit.It can’t be helped. If you want that interaction then its a risk thats taken.. these are farm animals after all.”