Blossom Booi, of Port Elizabeth, prematurely gave birth to her baby at 29 weeks after contracting listeriosis last year.
The struggling mother of four is one of 53 Eastern Cape claimants in an unprecedented class action lawsuit in the food industry.
The suit has been filed by Richard Spoor Attorneys, and Spoor says that so far 150 claimants have come forward nationally.
The high court in Johannesburg accepted and certified the class action against Tiger Brands and Enterprise Foods in December.
The outbreak claimed more than 200 lives. The majority of these were infants.
According to health department statistics, there were 1,060 laboratory-confirmed infections across the country.
Spoor said on Monday that a summons would be issued against Tiger Brands and Enterprise within the week.
His team is still processing claims, including the damages amounts to be sought.
One of the victims Spoor’s office will be representing is Mount Frere man Mnoneleli Matam’s son, Sinelizwe, who was in Pretoria for an athletics trip when he experienced the flu-like symptoms.
Another is Duncan Village resident Luleka Ndamase.
Lindiwe Ndamase, Luleka’s mother, said: “Her condition led to complications and doctors feared that her organs would shut down.”
She showed the Dispatch Luleka’s health records, which indicated that she had lost over 20kg after the listeriosis diagnosis.
After that Luleka, 42, who has special needs, couldn’t help herself to do much, including going to the loo.
“Naturally she is a chubby person, but her body changed after she caught the listeriosis infection.”
Lindiwe said the sickness shocked the family.
Booi said she and her foetus were diagnosed with listeriosis. Her first scan had revealed she was expecting twins.
After delivering baby Anga, she barely saw him for seconds as doctors whisked him off to an incubator.
Booi said she was hospitalised for a week after the listeriosis diagnosis.
Spoor said: “This is definitely the first [class action] of its kind.
“The point to class action is that there is an advantage to both sides – a mechanism is being developed to resolve matters like this quickly, cheaply and effectively.”
Spoor said the number of victims had started to increase after a notice was published two weeks ago calling for people to come forward.
The notice campaign has a deadline of March 3.
“We hope to get over a thousand claims because over 1,000 people were infected.”..