Nation IN BRIEF : ILLINOIS : Liver-Transplant Infant Doing Well

A 21-month-old girl was drinking liquids, growing more alert and doing well, five days after becoming the nation’s first living-donor liver-transplant recipient, a hospital spokesman said. While Alyssa Smith of Schertz, Tex., recovered with her mother, who gave the child part of her liver Monday, surgeons at the University of Chicago Medical Center were deciding whether a 15-month-old girl could undergo a similar operation. Sarina Jones of Millington, Tenn., remained in serious condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Both girls suffered from biliary atresia, a usually fatal genetic disorder.