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A 19-year-old college student in the UK underwent multiple amputations after mistaking deadly meningitis for the flu, PEOPLE reports.

Ketia Moponda , 19, said she began feeling sick shortly after arriving at De Montfort University in Leicester in September 2024. Moponda initially brushed off her symptoms, like coughing and fatigue, as a typical cold and delayed going to the doctor.

“I just thought I had freshers’ flu,” Moponda recalled.

After telling a friend that she felt like she was “going to die,” Moponda stopped responding to calls and messages. The friend contacted the university, where officials found her unconscious in her dorm room.

Moponda was taken to the Leicester Royal Infirmary ICU and diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia, a severe bacterial infectio

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