Question

A 36 year old previously healthy woman becomes ill over the course a week with a fever, chest pain, and shortness of breath. Her physician notes say that she has an arrhythmia and signs of early congestive heart failure but no heart murmur. Her most likely diagnosis is:

1) Myocardial infarct
2) Rheumatic heart disease
3) Myocarditis
4) Infective endocarditis
5) Restrictive cardiomyopathy

Answer 1

The woman with fever, chest pain, and arrhythmia without a murmur most likely has myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, which can cause congestive heart failure.

Step-by-step explanation:

A 36-year-old previously healthy woman experiencing fever, chest pain, shortness of breath, arrhythmia, and signs of early congestive heart failure, but without a heart murmur, is most likely suffering from myocarditis. This condition refers to the inflammation of the heart's muscle tissue, which can cause fluid accumulation around the heart, leading to congestive heart failure. This inflammation can be differentiated from myocardial infarction (MI), which usually presents with chest pain due to ischemia, and from rheumatic heart disease, which typically involves a heart murmur due to the valvular damage.