FIFTY two-year-old Maniam woke up suddenly, gasping for air. He was sweating profusely, yet his hands and feet felt cold and clammy, as he sputtered in paroxysms of coughing and wheezing. He felt like a drowning man, and couldn’t seem to get the heavy dank morning air into his lungs despite rapid and deeper than normal breaths.
Because he appeared so distressed and could only speak in spurts of short phrases interspersed with wheezing, his wife sent him directly to the nearest Emergency Department.