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Re: South Africa: Rift Valley Fever wreaks havoc in Free State
Tribute to young vet who died of Rift fever
2010/06/21
Barbara Hollands EAST LONDON CORRESPONDENT hollandsb@avusa.co.za
SAD LOSS: Cradock state veterinarian Dr Anje Pretorius, 27, loved animals and fought hard to combat Rift Valley fever, but died from the disease.
A KABEGA Park church was filled to overflowing this week as grief- stricken family and friends paid their last tributes to a beautiful young Cradock veterinarian who died of Rift Valley fever.
Former Framesby High School headgirl Dr Anje Pretorius, 27, died at Port Elizabeth?s St George?s Hospital last week after a 24-day coma, dashing hopes she would recover from the disease she fought so hard to combat as Cradock?s state vet.
Vets from all over South Africa who had studied with Anje in Pretoria flew down for her funeral and a Facebook page dedicated to the cheerful young woman is brimming with tributes.
Speaking to Weekend Post, her devastated father, Cobus Pretorius, of Van der Stel, PE, said his beloved daughter had taken the utmost precaution when carrying out autopsies on farm animals suspected of being infected with the disease.
Pretorius said she had been ?scared? of contracting Rift Valley fever, which can be passed on to humans who come into contact with the tissue of infected animals. He said she had complained of flu symptoms but tests had repeatedly come back negative for the disease, which is spread among animals by mosquitoes.
?She would wear a monster protective suit and three sets of gloves when she was doing autopsies on animals suspected of dying of Rift Valley fever. She was worried she would get it and when she got flu she was tested, but the results came back negative,? he said.
Struggling to fight back tears, Pretorius described how he would phone his daughter twice a day to tell her he loved her, but when he called her on May 15 she sounded incoherent and slurred.
?I immediately drove to Cradock, but when I got there someone had taken her to hospital and she was already in a coma. We had to wait for an ambulance to come from Graaff-Reinet and take her to PE.?
His said he and his wife, Marina, and son Marco, 29, were ?devastated? when Anje was declared brain dead and her life support switched off on June 11.
?People all over South Africa were praying for her and we really believed she would come out of the coma. I visited her up to six times a day at St George?s.
?Every morning at 5am I would run in there full of hope and we all prayed there would be a change.?
Pretorius said his daughter, who graduated from Onderstepoort at the University of Pretoria in 2008, had wanted to be a vet since primary school. ?She loved her job in Cradock and the farmers there really loved her. She was a star, a packet of energy, and we are so proud of her. I loved her very, very much.?
Anje?s older brother Marco said he had been very close to his sister.
?The NG Kerk Nooitgedacht in Kabega Park was packed and there were even people standing in the foyer. Everyone was very emotional, but we gave her the right send- off and played some of her favourite songs like Frank Sinatra?s My Way and Michael Buble?s Home.
Marco has set up a Facebook page titled ?In Loving Memory of Anje Pretorius?.
?She was crazy about Facebook and she would have appreciated it.?
He said Anje and their mother Marina had been ?soul mates? and that his mother was ?sad but at peace?.
Anje?s close friend, Linton Grange vet Adel de Haast, said she had urged their former Onderstepoort university friends to wear high heels to her funeral as a tribute to Anje who had been ?very, very glamorous and always wore heels?.
?She only put on her gumboots when it was really necessary and she always looked perfect. She was a wonderful vet and a unique person who was always laughing. She always saw the good in everyone and was never down.?
?It was so hard to see her in the coma, but I really thought she?d make it, because only about 2% of humans who contract this disease die of it. It was such a shock when she passed away. We all thought she?d wake up.?
The Eastern Cape now has 17 confirmed human cases of Rift Valley fever. South Africa has 221 human cases of the disease, which has claimed 23 lives nationally.
Tribute to young vet who died of Rift fever
2010/06/21
Barbara Hollands EAST LONDON CORRESPONDENT hollandsb@avusa.co.za
SAD LOSS: Cradock state veterinarian Dr Anje Pretorius, 27, loved animals and fought hard to combat Rift Valley fever, but died from the disease.
A KABEGA Park church was filled to overflowing this week as grief- stricken family and friends paid their last tributes to a beautiful young Cradock veterinarian who died of Rift Valley fever.
Former Framesby High School headgirl Dr Anje Pretorius, 27, died at Port Elizabeth?s St George?s Hospital last week after a 24-day coma, dashing hopes she would recover from the disease she fought so hard to combat as Cradock?s state vet.
Vets from all over South Africa who had studied with Anje in Pretoria flew down for her funeral and a Facebook page dedicated to the cheerful young woman is brimming with tributes.
Speaking to Weekend Post, her devastated father, Cobus Pretorius, of Van der Stel, PE, said his beloved daughter had taken the utmost precaution when carrying out autopsies on farm animals suspected of being infected with the disease.
Pretorius said she had been ?scared? of contracting Rift Valley fever, which can be passed on to humans who come into contact with the tissue of infected animals. He said she had complained of flu symptoms but tests had repeatedly come back negative for the disease, which is spread among animals by mosquitoes.
?She would wear a monster protective suit and three sets of gloves when she was doing autopsies on animals suspected of dying of Rift Valley fever. She was worried she would get it and when she got flu she was tested, but the results came back negative,? he said.
Struggling to fight back tears, Pretorius described how he would phone his daughter twice a day to tell her he loved her, but when he called her on May 15 she sounded incoherent and slurred.
?I immediately drove to Cradock, but when I got there someone had taken her to hospital and she was already in a coma. We had to wait for an ambulance to come from Graaff-Reinet and take her to PE.?
His said he and his wife, Marina, and son Marco, 29, were ?devastated? when Anje was declared brain dead and her life support switched off on June 11.
?People all over South Africa were praying for her and we really believed she would come out of the coma. I visited her up to six times a day at St George?s.
?Every morning at 5am I would run in there full of hope and we all prayed there would be a change.?
Pretorius said his daughter, who graduated from Onderstepoort at the University of Pretoria in 2008, had wanted to be a vet since primary school. ?She loved her job in Cradock and the farmers there really loved her. She was a star, a packet of energy, and we are so proud of her. I loved her very, very much.?
Anje?s older brother Marco said he had been very close to his sister.
?The NG Kerk Nooitgedacht in Kabega Park was packed and there were even people standing in the foyer. Everyone was very emotional, but we gave her the right send- off and played some of her favourite songs like Frank Sinatra?s My Way and Michael Buble?s Home.
Marco has set up a Facebook page titled ?In Loving Memory of Anje Pretorius?.
?She was crazy about Facebook and she would have appreciated it.?
He said Anje and their mother Marina had been ?soul mates? and that his mother was ?sad but at peace?.
Anje?s close friend, Linton Grange vet Adel de Haast, said she had urged their former Onderstepoort university friends to wear high heels to her funeral as a tribute to Anje who had been ?very, very glamorous and always wore heels?.
?She only put on her gumboots when it was really necessary and she always looked perfect. She was a wonderful vet and a unique person who was always laughing. She always saw the good in everyone and was never down.?
?It was so hard to see her in the coma, but I really thought she?d make it, because only about 2% of humans who contract this disease die of it. It was such a shock when she passed away. We all thought she?d wake up.?
The Eastern Cape now has 17 confirmed human cases of Rift Valley fever. South Africa has 221 human cases of the disease, which has claimed 23 lives nationally.
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