George H.W. Bush Recovers from Christmastime Fever, Remains in Hospital

HOUSTON (AP) — A spokesman says the fever that kept former President George H.W. Bush in the hospital over Christmas is gone.

Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday that doctors at the Houston hospital where the ex-president has been treated for a month remain "cautiously optimistic" that he will recover. Still, no discharge date has been set, and McGrath says that doctors are being cautious because Bush is 88 and "sometimes issues crop up that are beyond anybody's ability to discern or foretell."

The former president was initially hospitalized with a bronchitis-like cough.

He has been visited over the holiday by his sons, Neil Bush and former president George W. Bush, along with other family members. McGrath says Bush's youngest daughter, Dora, is arriving in Houston on Wednesday.