Rangel Had Encephelitis When Hospitalized, Not Flu
By Associated Press | March 21, 2008
A spokesman says the illness that put Rep. Charles Rangel in a New York City hospital earlier this month was a brain-swelling virus, not the flu.
The chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee was hospitalized in Manhattan from March 4 to 10. At the time, his staff said he had severe flu symptoms.
A spokesman, Emile Milne, said yesterday that Mr. Rangel turned out to have viral encephalitis, a disease that inflames the brain. The National Institutes of Health say its symptoms often mimic flu.
Mr. Rangel said when he was released from the hospital that he would work at a slower pace until fully recovered. Mr. Milne says the 77-year-old Harlem Democrat is now "feeling great."
