A previously healthy 17-year-old student developed severe shortness of breath just a week after recovering from a common cold. Believing it was asthma, his parents reached for an inhaler, but it brought no relief.
As his breathing worsened, they rushed him to the hospital, where imaging revealed an enlarged heart and fluid in his lungs. Doctors diagnosed myocarditis—an inflammation of the heart muscle triggered by the recent viral infection—which had already progressed to heart failure.
