Nelson Mandela in Intensive Care for Lung Infection
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Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images(PRETORIA, South Africa) — Former South African President Nelson Mandela is in intensive care after being hospitalized yet again for a lung infection, a government source tells ABC News.
Mandela, 94, went into a Pretoria hospital on Saturday and remains in serious but stable condition. A spokesman said that he’s able to breathe on his own despite being diagnosed with pneumonia.
Mandela has been susceptible to respiratory problems since he contracted tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment.
Since last December, Mandela has been hospitalized four times. His most recent visit before this past weekend was in April. Back then, doctors were satisfied with the “gradual improvement in his general condition,” prompting them to allow Mandela to return to his Johannesburg home.
Several years after his release from prison, Mandela was elected South Africa’s first black president in 1994, essentially ending the system of apartheid.
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