‘Polony almost killed me’
Woman tells of her battle to beat deadly listeriosis
After eating a single piece of polony between two slices of white bread Rina Adriaanse almost died, but it was only when she woke up in a hospital that the seriousness of listeriosis hit home.
Adriaanse, 53, who lives in Windvogel with her two sons and her family, is one of 11 patients from Nelson Mandela Bay who have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal bacterial infection.
Adriaanse, who fell ill three weeks ago, said: “Then we didn’t think much about it because we didn’t know that polony could make you ill, but two days before I got ill I had a plain polony sandwich at my brother’s house in Gelvandale.
“I started vomiting and I had diarrhoea for two days. We thought it was a stomach bug.”
Two days later, Adriaanse was still ill and her sister, Martha, took her to the West End clinic.
“They referred me to Livingstone Hospital,” she said, adding that before she could get there she had collapsed and her sister had rushed her to the hospital.
Hours later she woke up and realised she was in the casualty unit.
Adriaanse was diagnosed with listeriosis meningitis – a potentially fatal bacterial infection of the brain – caused by the listeria bacteria.
“The nurses would come and tell me bits of news. I was alone in the ward so I was listening to what people were saying.
“I know I am lucky to have survived this. A lot of people were killed by this illness.
“It is just through the mercy of the Lord that I made it.”
Adriaanse was placed under the care of the head of the department of infectious diseases, Dr John Black, and his team.
“It was just normal pink polony on two pieces of bread. I almost can’t believe that it made me that ill,” she said.
Adriaanse said while she used to eat polony “every now and again”, she would never buy it again.
“Until I got ill I didn’t know about listeriosis.
“On Sunday the nurses came to tell me that it was the polony that made me ill.” Adriaanse is completing a 21-day course of antibiotics.
“I hope I can go home next week. People have been very good to me at this hospital.
“Everybody is so friendly. They looked after me so well, all of them – the doctors and my nurses. I am grateful.”
Adriaanse said she would be happy to go home as she was missing her children.
South Africa is experiencing the biggest listeriosis outbreak in global history.
Listeriosis is not contagious but can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to her unborn baby during pregnancy or at the time of birth.
Yesterday, Eastern Cape Health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi presented an overview of the current listeriosis outbreak in the Eastern Cape in a poststate-of-the-province engagement in Queenstown.
She said there were 48 laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease in the province, with 10 patients having died.
Most listeriosis cases were diagnosed in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, with 11 confirmed case.
Of those 11 cases, three people have died.
There were nine cases diagnosed in Buffalo City.
She said the first cases had been detected at St Dominic’s Hospital in East London and at the Mthatha Regional Hospital, both in February last year.
Dyantyi said 1 500 different foods from retail outlets, food processing plants and patients’ homes had been tested by the National Health Laboratory Service, with 70 of those testing positive for the listeria bacteria.
Dyantyi said there were seven babies diagnosed in the province. One baby died.
The bulk of listeriosis patients, she said, were over the age of 50, with 15 patients surviving and six dying.
“Public health surveillance remains core to the prevention of communicable diseases like listeriosis,” she said.
“This will include routine monitoring of the areas where there is food production, food processing and distribution.”
The NICD has also alerted medical personnel to remain vigilant for new listeriosis cases as the disease has an incubation period of several weeks.
Last Sunday‚ the National Consumer Commission recalled Enterprise polony‚ Russians and frankfurters as well as Rainbow Chicken polony‚ due to the presence of listeria monocytogenes bacteria at factories.
Tiger Brands owns Enterprise.
Yesterday, Tiger Brands said that it was doing everything possible to get to the root cause of the listeria bacterium at its Enterprise Foods’ Limpopo facility.
The company said Enterprise Foods had received a report from the Department of Health on Thursday confirming the presence of listeria monocytogenes ST6 (LST6) strain in its Polokwane factory.
Chief executive Lawrence MacDougall said: “We acknowledge and recognise that we are dealing with a national crisis which has impacted customers‚ consumers and the industry.
“Tiger Brands wants to be at the forefront of finding a solution.”
Tiger Brands initiated the withdrawal of all its ready-to-eat meat products last Sunday and closed the factories in Polokwane and Germiston producing those products. –- Additional reporting by Ernest Mabuza
