Infection Gone; Thurmond Released From Hospital

U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., has been released after a week-long stay at a Georgia military hospital where he was treated for a respiratory infection.

Thurmond was discharged about 2 p.m. Sunday from Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Ga., said Spc. Carla Sanford, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was expected to return to Washington immediately.

Thurmond, at 95 the nation’s longest-serving senator, was at his Aiken home for the holidays when he suffered laryngitis and a bad cough. He was admitted to the hospital Dec. 28.

Doctors pronounced Thurmond healthy on Wednesday, but he requested a few extra days to rest and recuperate.