Zoonotic diseases—illnesses transmitted from animals to humans—represent a longstanding but often underestimated public-health threat. In the United States, some of the most significant zoonotic risks occur not on commercial farms or in industrial agriculture, but in petting zoos, traveling animal exhibits, pony rides, educational farms, and state or county fairs . These environments, beloved by families and educators, provide children with opportunities for tactile learning and animal interaction. Yet they also serve as ideal conditions for Salmonella , Listeria monocytogenes , and Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) —especially E. coli O157:H7 and related non-O157 serotypes—to spread.

Children are disproportionately affected by these pathogens. Because they have developing imm

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