A woman has died after mistaking symptoms for the flu

Awful.

A woman has died after she mistakenly thought she had the flu, when she was actually suffering from suspected meningitis. Katie Button, who was 36-years-old, returned home from work one day and went to bed because she was feeling ill with what she thought was the flu. Two days later she died before an ambulance made it to her house. The doctors have since said that they believe she had meningitis. Her husband spoke with Wales Online where he said:

"She just had flu-like (symptoms). That's the only way I can describe it. She came home from work on the Wednesday night ill and on Friday night she died. It was nothing for a day or two. It was nothing out of the normal. It's a bit surreal really. At one point on the Friday it even looked like she was improving."

He continued to explain the events that led to her death saying:

"We rang NHS Direct to check the symptoms. I just thought we would get her some tablets. After being given advice to contact them again if her condition deteriorated, Katie went back to bed. She woke up at 1am on the Saturday and it was different. I rang an ambulance. It took 40 minutes to turn up, but apparently it wouldn't have done anything anyway."

There have been previous cases with the same situation. One woman died after mistaking the symptoms of meningitis for a hangover, while another woman ended up losing her legs after thinking that she had the common flu.