When her back began to ache, Maria Morales attributed the soreness to her job as a therapist for children with autism, where she often moved around and sat in “little kid” chairs.
Then after a week with this pain, the 26-year-old from Miami started to feel like she had the flu, but a test for influenza was negative. The next day, she woke up with abdominal pain. At work, it seemed like her belly kept growing. “I couldn’t button my pants,” she said.