Most people in the UK will be aware of the little boys who visted a petting zoo, contracted e-coli and ended up having transfusions to save thier kidneys. There is a bit of a hoo ha about petting zoos now and politicians are calling for it to be made illegal for small children to pet animals.

Im in the school of thought that we are going too far to fight bacteria. We have anti-bacterial dishwashing liquid, surface wipes, chopping boards etc. which are actually killing the good bacteria as well as the bad and people are supplementing thier diets with culture drinks such as yakult etc to get the good bacteria.

This is madness. We all get tummy upset and colds from time to time. The products to kill germs are being presented to us like they could save our lives when they are IMO what is causing the problem in the first place.

People are becoming less and less tolerant of our environment and our food and when we do get sick antibiotics are not working any more because more bacteria is becoming resistant.

link [www.telegraph.co.uk]

are we over reacting about germs and illness?

I've always been weird about germs. Things like someone coughing and not covering their mouth bothers me.

I Lysol my house everyday. I love my dog but I wash my hands after touching him if I am going to eat.

In public washrooms some people don't wash their hands!

I have been to one of the affected farms a couple of times. it's a wonderful place. There are signs everywhere saying wash your hands. It's such a shame. As for banning them.. well as hard as it is for those kids that did get ill, they are just a few out of the hundreds that visit those farms every single week. I think more safety guidelines may be in order but to close the farms is way over the top.

i played in the dirt as a kid went to loads of zoo's and stuff never got ill from it dunno what kids are built of today should all walk around with those surgical masks on

I think parents have to use common sense. We know more now and know animals spread disease. Washing hands properly and with a bacterial soap is key. Closing down a zoo or saying no kids is too much.

I still am freaky with germs though.

I remember going to Crystal Palace and feeding the goats from my hand and not washing my hands until the next time i went pee. I probably had my hands in my mouth loads of times before i washed them

Pfft yes it is too far. Washing hands after handling animals/after going to the loo is fine, but to use antibacterial spray on every inch of every possible surface is silly.

Jake will be thrown in the mud/rivers/sea and will probably put loads of very unclean things in his mouth but that's life and is what builds his immune system. Kids get ill, they get tummy upsets and they get coughs and colds.

This is the reason why I never have a problem letting my kids get dirty. It does help build their immune system.

And as far as this petting zoo, one of the boys probably but his hand on the goats bum and in to his mouth and then spread the bacteria to the other boys. Its an isolated incident I think and people are over reacting.

there can be a fine line between hygenic and germaphobic. some people do go overboard. there are ways to vaccinate most major outbreaks but i think we are just creating super virises. some food has natural imunity builders.

god yes, the world has become far too worried about it... kids should play in the mud, and they should let goats, cows, whatever lick them at a petting zoo, and they arent going to die if our homes are sterilized daily...

it irks me when i hear of parents that wont ever let their kids get dirty... its not fair or healthy to raise them in bubbles...