Marler Clark has been retained by three families in the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) illnesses that Dallas County is investigating in connection with the petting zoo at the State Fair of Texas. We have put the fair on notice of the claims. We have also sent Texas Public Information Act requests to the City of Dallas, Dallas County Health and Human Services and the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Everything the public knows came from county officials’ interviews with Dallas television stations on October 27 and 28. I have found no update since. Here is where the record stands, and where it stops.
What we know
- On October 27, Dallas County Health and Human Services told FOX 4 it was lab testing a cluster of STEC cases and investigating whether they came from the fair’s petting zoo.
- On October 28 the number went from seven to nine. County health director Dr. Philip Huang told WFAA his office had identified nine possible cases in Dallas County and elsewhere in North Texas. FOX 4 described the nine as confirmed.
- FOX 4 reported that all nine people went to the State Fair before they got sick, that they are of different ages, and that several were hospitalized in Dallas.
- Doctors raised the alarm. KERA reported that local physicians spotted fair visits as a common thread among their patients.
- Parker’s Promise, a nonprofit that supports families, told FOX 4 it was helping three North Texas families with hospitalized children and had reached out to a fourth.
- Dr. Huang told WFAA the county had 23 reported cases in October of last year, and that the overall number this fall is in line with the season.
- The fair says no connection to its petting zoo has been confirmed, that its animal exhibits follow precautions recommended by CDC, and that it will cooperate with health officials.
- The Texas Department of State Health Services told WFAA it cannot discuss a local investigation, and that Dallas County has a week to report to the state once its investigation is complete.
- The fair ran from September 25 through October 18.
What we do not know
- Whether nine is still the number, whether the nine are confirmed or possible, and what case definition the county is using.
- Which STEC this is. No serotype has been released, and no one has said whether the patients’ bacteria were sequenced or whether they match one another.
- How many people were hospitalized, how many developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and how old they are.
- When the patients visited the fair and when they got sick.
- Whether any animal or any surface was ever sampled. The fair had been closed for nine days when the county first spoke publicly.
- Who operated the petting zoo, where the animals came from, and where they went next.
- What handwashing stations, signs and barriers were in place, and whether food was allowed near the animals.
- Whether the county has surveyed fairgoers. In Illinois, the Will County Health Department’s online survey drew 270 responses from visitors to one pumpkin farm.
- Whether Dallas County will publish its findings.
What a finished investigation looks like
Two counties have shown how this is done. Maricopa County, Arizona, published a final report on the 2025 Arizona State Fair outbreak: 18 people ill, 11 hospitalized, six with HUS, and an odds ratio of 190 for petting zoo exposure. It also measured that season’s STEC cases against a five-year average, 58 against 32. The Arizona State Fair dropped its petting zoo for 2026. Marler Clark was retained in that outbreak as well.
Last Tuesday, Will County, Illinois, announced that whole genome sequencing had closely matched bacteria from sick visitors to one baby goat at Bengtson’s Pumpkin Farm, and it put seven confirmed and 159 probable cases in writing.
Dr. Huang’s comparison to last October is the right kind of question. A seasonal baseline, though, does not explain nine people who share one exposure. The answer is in the laboratory work and the interviews, and it belongs in a written report that the families and the fair can both read.
What the records should tell us
An outbreak file typically holds the line list of cases, the laboratory reports, any sequencing, the interview forms and the correspondence with the venue. Patient names are redacted, as they should be. When the records arrive, I will write about what they show. Earlier coverage of this cluster, and of 25 years of outbreaks like it, is here.
If your family went to the fair
The fair ended four weeks ago, so anyone infected there has likely already been ill. If a child had diarrhea after a visit, especially bloody diarrhea, and was never tested, tell the doctor about the fair and tell Dallas County Health and Human Services. There is more on petting zoo outbreaks at fair-safety.com and on HUS at about-hus.com.
Questions and answers
How many people are sick in the State Fair of Texas E. coli cluster? Nine, according to Dallas County health officials’ statements to Dallas television stations on October 28, 2026. No update has been published since.
Has the petting zoo been confirmed as the source? No. Dallas County is investigating, and the fair says no connection has been confirmed.
What kind of E. coli is it? Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. The serotype has not been released.
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