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Former US president George HW Bush is being treated for an infection after being hospitalised the day after the funeral of his wife, Barbara, a spokesman has confirmed.
Key points:
- The 93-year-old was hospitalised after an infection spread to his blood
- He developed a form of Parkinson's disease and uses a wheelchair and electric scooter
- His wife of 73 years was laid to rest the day before he was hospitalised
Jim McGrath said on Twitter that the 93-year-old was "responding to treatments and appears to be recovering."
He was admitted on Sunday morning (local time) to Houston Methodist Hospital after an infection spread to his blood, Mr McGrath said.
Mrs Bush was laid to rest Saturday in a ceremony attended by her husband and former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W Bush and their wives, along with current First Lady Melania Trump.
She was 92, and she and her husband had been married for 73 years — the longest presidential marriage in US history.
Mr Bush uses a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility after developing a form of Parkinson's disease, and he has needed hospital treatment several times in recent years for respiratory problems.
He attended the funeral wearing a pair of knitted socks decorated in blue, red and yellow books — a tribute to his late wife's work promoting literacy.
On Friday, during the public viewing of Mrs Bush's casket, Mr Bush offered his hand to many of the near-2,500 people who walked through the church to pay their respects.
Health issues mount
A year ago this month, Mr Bush spent two weeks in the hospital for treatment of pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, a constant irritation of the lining of tubes that carry air to one's lungs.
His doctors said chronic bronchitis was a condition more prevalent with age and could aggravate the symptoms of pneumonia.
Mr Bush was hospitalised for 16 days in January 2017 for pneumonia. During that hospital stay, which included time in intensive care, doctors inserted a breathing tube and connected him to a ventilator.
He also was hospitalised in 2015 in Maine after falling at home and breaking a bone in his neck, and in December 2014 for about a week for shortness of breath. He spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues.
Mr Bush served as president from 1989 to 1993. Born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, he also served as a congressman, CIA director and Ronald Reagan's vice president.
AP
Topics: people, us-elections, world-politics, united-states
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