A BRIT mum was left bedbound for five weeks after what she thought was a prosecco-induced hangover – but was in fact the Aussie flu.
Mum Natalie Shand said she was left aching all over her body after being struck down by the strain of flu, struggling to get out of bed and feeling like she had a chest infection.
The 39-year-old at first thought her symptoms were down to the three glasses of Prosecco she had downed during a Christmas party.
But as the pain worsened, she went to the doctor who diagnosed her with the Aussie flu.
Speaking to The Mirror, she said: “When it first started I thought it was a hangover.
“I was being sick and had diarrhoea. Then by the second day I was bedbound.”
She added: “I was bedbound for six days in total. Then I was OK for two weeks and then by December 23 it knocked me off my feet again for hours at a time.
“I had it for five weeks.”
Natalie, from Oldbury, West Midlands, said she normally went to the gym five times a week but was barely able to get off the couch over Christmas.
The mum said she was finally able to return to work, having had to rely on her husband to keep the household running and to get the kids to school.
Around 170,000 cases of flu have been reported in Australia this season, which is two and a half times more than last year.
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Plymouth, Doncaster and Durham are revealed as Aussie flu hot spots while other parts of the country have no recorded outbreaks, according to a map compiled by the FluSurvey website.
The number of sick Brits admitted with the bug has gone up from 1,281 to 3,751 in seven days.
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