Five more E. coli O157 infections have been linked to the Pacific National Exhibition‘s petting zoo, bringing the total to 18. It’s very likely that the true number of infected people is higher, since mild cases are often missed because they don’t go to the doctor or because testing is not performed. This situation follows a very large outbreak linked to a UK public farm and closure of some other UK petting zoos because of E. coli O157. Clearly, more effort needs to be put into proper management of these events, design of petting zoo facilities, scrutiny of animals and education of the public about infection control practices. Petting zoos shouldn’t be banned, but they should be regulated and run responsibly.