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Arizona mom’s flu symptoms turn out to be flesh-eating disease

PHOENIX (KRON/CNN) – An Arizona mother remains hospitalized after thinking she was unusually sick with the flu.

Her family says it has turned out to be something much more serious – a flesh-eating disease.

Christin Lipinski and her family had started off the New Year with lots of happy plans and scheduled trips.

They were about to go to Disneyland.

But about two weeks ago, she visited her doctor with flu-like symptoms and a pain under her arm.

Her husband says that what happened next has the whole family in shock.

Christin has a flesh-eating bacterial infection that has already claimed nearly 30 percent of her body.

Christin’s husband says that every day is touch and go. She’s hospitalized in Phoenix.

Some people are asking whether the flu can somehow lead to the flesh-eating disease and doctors say no.

But they add that the flu does weaken your immune system, making you more vulnerable to other infections.