One in four people who get listeriosis dies, but while it’s serious it can be treated and prevented. Here’s what you need to know about this food-borne disease.
SHE’S still struggling to come to terms with what happened. How is it possible that her child could be dead? More than anything else Tanya Clack wants answers. In August last year her daughter Sonette was looking forward to starting a new chapter as she married a man she adored. But four months later she lay comatose in hospital.
On 1 December Sonette (34) was admitted to Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria with suspected meningitis. But a week later as she lay unconscious, tests revealed she actually had listeriosis, a food-borne disease. Tanya felt relieved – at last doctors knew what was wrong with Sonette and could start treating her.
She was delighted when a day later her daughter opened her eyes. But within moments her joy turned to horror.
“She regained consciousness and the next minute she was dead,” says Tanya, who’s now looking after Sonette’s two children, aged 10 and 16, from a previous relationship.
The Clacks aren’t the only family struggling to come to terms with losing a loved one to a disease that until now had never been on their radar. With more than 60 deaths and almost 750 confirmed cases countrywide, South Africa is in the grip of what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially declared the worst outbreak of listeriosis in recorded history.
It’s far more than just a nasty stomach bug – for those unlucky enough to contract it, the disease is potentially fatal. Around 25% of those who get it die, which makes it more dangerous than typhoid fever or even bubonic plague.
This story is from the 25 January 2018 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the 25 January 2018 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
BALLON IN THE BAG
Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football
IT WAS ALL A LIE
A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country
AGREE TO DISAGREE
Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book
PAUSE THE CLOCK
Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down
MPOOMY ON TOP
We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court
MATT THE RECLUSE
A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight
A LEAP OF FAITH
After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it