George HW Bush responding and recovering, spokesman says
Former President George HW Bush is "responding and recovering" to treatment at a Houston hospital for an infection that had spread to his blood, according to a family spokesman.
Mr Bush has been in hospital since Sunday, a day after attending the funeral of his wife, Barbara, who died last week at age 92.
The couple was married 73 years, longer than any other US presidential couple.
In a brief post on Twitter, family spokesman Jim McGrath said he could "happily" echo his report from Monday that the 93-year-old former president was "responding to treatments and appears to be recovering."
Mr Bush had used a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility since developing a form of Parkinson's disease, and he has needed hospital treatment several times in recent years for respiratory problems and other infections.
Mr McGrath would not elaborate on the specifics of Mr Bush's condition, saying only that he would issue updates "when we have something to update".
For media planning purposes, the Office of @GeorgeHWBush will issue updates on #41 when we have something to update. Those updates would come through this Twitter feed first. Happily, our previous statement still stands: "responding and recovering."
— Jim McGrath (@jgm41) April 24, 2018
A year ago this month, the nation's 41st president 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 is a condition more prevalent with age and can aggravate the symptoms of pneumonia.
Mr Bush was also 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 was hospitalised in 2015 in Maine after falling at home and breaking a bone in his neck. In December 2014, he was hospitalised for about a week for shortness of breath, and he spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues.
