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A parasitic outbreak connected to Butterfield Acres, a popular Calgary petting farm,\u00a0is growing.<\/p>\n
A dozen more people have tested positive for cryptosporidium since the outbreak was first announced on April 28, bringing the total to 17 confirmed cases.<\/p>\n
Provincial health officials say all confirmed cases are among people aged 17 and older. But it refused to share details about how many are staff or visitors, citing patient confidentiality.<\/p>\n
Cryptosporidium can cause symptoms like watery diarrhea, fever, nausea, vomiting, belly pain and weight loss. Symptoms can develop between two and 10 days after exposure and can last up to two weeks.<\/p>\n
The parasite lives in the intestines of infected animals and humans. It spreads when someone comes in contact with infected feces and then touches their mouth.<\/p>\n
While most people can clear the illness on their own, those who are immunocompromised are at the highest risk of complications, including dehydration.<\/p>\n
Farm closed again<\/p>\n
Butterfield Acres, which closed of its own accord last week and then reopened, has shut down again.<\/p>\n
On its website, the farm says it has decided to “err on the side of caution” and stay closed until the health alert is lifted.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Primary and Preventative Health Services said health officials are in regular contact with Butterfield Acres to offer support. It confirmed any closure is voluntary.<\/p>\n
![\"Bunnies](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777433739_750_default.jpg\")
Butterfield Acres has been in operation for more than 40 years. (Natascia Lypny\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Last week, Butterfield Acres told CBC News the parasite was traced back to one of two recently purchased calves, and that it had worked quickly to disinfect the farm and follow the guidance of public health officials.<\/p>\n
The infected calf was euthanized, and at the time a spokesperson said its twin was being kept in isolation.<\/p>\n
No hospitalizations or deaths have been reported due to the outbreak, according to provincial health officials.<\/p>\n
They have urged people with symptoms to consider calling Health Link (811) or see a health care provider. People with compromised immune systems have been instructed to do so quickly.<\/p>\n
In an effort to prevent transmission to others, anyone with symptoms is told to wash their hands thoroughly and regularly, use a separate washroom, avoid preparing food for others, and to remain home until 48 hours after the symptoms have stopped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51],"class_list":{"0":"post-35027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-calgary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}