Baldrige in Hospital With Lung Ailment

Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige was in satisfactory condition and slowly improving today in a hospital where he has been undergoing treatment since Saturday for a lung ailment, officials said.

Baldrige, 64, has an accumulation of fluid in both lungs and is being given oxygen to help his breathing while doctors try to determine what the specific problem is, University of New Mexico Hospital spokesman Bob Hlady said.

“They are now looking for an unusual infectious agent or an unusual manifestation of a common one,” Hlady said Tuesday.

Doctors took tissue samples from Baldrige’s lungs Tuesday, but it could be days or weeks before test results are available, he said. Baldrige likely will be discharged before tests on the samples are completed.

Baldrige said he first became ill in Washington on Dec. 9 with what he thought was the flu. He stayed home several days, but returned to work Dec. 12. His symptoms worsened after he resumed jogging and took part in a rodeo.