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Grandmother-of-nine Wynne Richards had been looking forward to a fun-packed family ­Christmas. Instead, she spent it alone in bed, gripped by such severe stomach pains and ­diarrhoea she feared she was about to die.

‘There was one night when I hadn’t been to sleep, I hadn’t eaten for days and I’d been up and down constantly when it all seemed to be getting too much,’ the 77-year-old says.

‘I said to myself, “Wynne, this is it. You’ve got to this age but if it’s going to happen it’s going to happen.” ’

Six weeks on she’s still feeling unwell, still taking medication and still unable to eat anything but the blandest of foods.

And the root of her problem? Campylobacter – Britain’s most ­common food-poisoning bug. Wynne tested positive for the bacteria after visiting her GP. Although she can’t be sure how she caught it, it’s likely it came from eating chicken, the most common source.