The dreaded ‘manflu’ is a bizarre strain of the virus that cannot be medically proven but reduces men to quivering wrecks, unable to move, talk, or do anything that involves effort. Strangely, women seem immune. Natalie Bowen hit the streets of Sliema to get responses from both sexes about the ‘illness’...

Sara Beendaoud, 18, from Żabbar

My boyfriend does get manflu – he’s moaning all the time about having a headache, and making a big deal about it. He seems to do it on rotation. He’s like that for two days, then he doesn’t have it, then he has it again. With his friends he is fine, but then he comes back to me and he’s got a headache and everything. It makes me think: am I causing this? But it’s our job as girlfriends to look after them and give them sympathy so I just go along with it.

Sabrina Krainer, 25, from St Julian’s

He’s not really often sick, but when he is, he’s lying on the couch and saying: “Can you bring me stuff, I can’t get up”. He’s always moaning about head­aches or that his arms hurt, not like a man – more like a little child. And ­obviously I need to stay at home and take care of him – I can’t leave him alone! I have to serve him and get stuff for him and then he’s fine. But ­thankfully it’s once a year!

Jon Aedyn King, 30, from Paceville

I can be a hypochondriac at times, so I imagine the worst even if I feel OK. If I am struck down with a sort of virus, I fix in my mind that I am not sick. I don’t take painkillers, I make soup and put lemon and cayenne pepper on everything. I also give myself reiki treatments. I have to say I tend to hear women say they feel sick more often. I reckon most men soldier on. If anything, men tend to be in denial about being ill.

Elena Egorova, 30, from Marsascala

I can be sick seven times a year but my boyfriend is only ill once a year. It’s amazing. He is in very good health. His body temperature is always warm, probably because he is Mediterranean. Even if he’s sick, it’s only for a couple of days and he is 60 years old. But all his life, he’s been doing sport like windsurfing.

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