A three-year-old girl is recovering in Starship Hospital in Auckland after contracting a dangerous strain of the gastro infection E.coli while feeding a lamb.
The girl got the VTEC strain from unpasteurised milk in the lamb's bottle and was admitted to hospital on 11 September.
The Canterbury Medical Officer of Health says it is not clear whether the child contracted it as a result of drinking unpasteurised milk or by simply touching the lamb.
Alistair Humphrey says the disease is one of several carried by healthyanimals and warns that touching farm animals can be lethal.
Dr Humphrey says to prevent the spread of VTEC and other infections, it is important that people only drink pasteurised milk and do not put their hands in their mouths after feeding or touching farm animals.
He says up to a fifth of children who get this particular strain of ecoli die. At present, there are two other cases but they are not as serious.
