When Hillary Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia late last week, she informed a handful of her closest advisers, but pressed on with a busy campaign schedule and did not inform the public that she was sick.
"I just didn't think it was going to be that big a deal," she said.
Clinton's first comments about her health condition came in a CNN interview late on Monday, a day after a dizzy spell caught on video forced the Democratic nominee to disclose her illness and cancel a West Coast campaign trip.
The incident reinforced Clinton's reputation as a public figure with a predisposition for privacy. While her top campaign aides conceded they were too slow in providing the public with information about Clinton's condition, it was unclear how quickly they themselves had been informed by the candidate.
In a move aimed at quieting questions about transparency, Clinton said she would be releasing more medical information this week.
Her campaign has sought to turn the matter around on Republican opponent Donald Trump, who has released only a glowing letter from his doctor, though the billionaire real estate mogul says that he, too, plans to make public additional information in the coming days.
Less than two months from Election Day, Clinton's handling of her health incident has added to Democrats' growing sense of uncertainty about the presidential race.
Trump showed surprising restraint regarding Clinton's health. He wished her well and did not repeat questions he has previously raised about whether the former secretary of state has the strength and stamina to be president.
After a staff shake-up in August, Trump has largely abandoned the free-wheeling style of campaigning that energised his supporters but also led to an endless string of controversial comments about women, minorities and others.
The Republican nominee's newfound ability to stay on script has coincided with tightening in both national polls and surveys in some key swing states.
"The last few days feed into a sense of uncertainty,'' said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist.
He said Clinton's rough weekend raises the stakes for the first presidential debate on September 26, which "will either finish Trump or, if he does well, it will create a race.''
