Washington

President faints at White House

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Bush fainted briefly in the White House residence yesterday after choking on a pretzel while watching a National Football League playoff game on television, White House physician Dr. Richard Tubb said.

The doctor, an Air Force colonel, said Bush quickly recovered and is doing well.

"I do not find any reason that this would happen again," said Tubb. "He fainted due to a temporary decrease in heart rate brought on by swallowing a pretzel."

Tubb said Bush suffered an abrasion on his left cheek the size of a half dollar and a bruise on his lower lip, apparently from falling onto the floor from a couch.

Bush was alone in the room watching TV while his wife, first lady Laura Bush, was in a nearby room on the telephone.

Tubb said Bush believes he was out only for a few seconds because when he awoke, his two dogs were sitting in the same position they were when he lost consciousness.

"He said it (the pretzel) didn't seem to go down right," Tubb said.

The fainting spell occurred at approximately 5:35 p.m. EST and Bush contacted a nurse on duty at the White House five minutes later. Tubb was paged eight minutes later and rushed to the White House to examine the president.

Tubb said Bush, under his own power, took an elevator from the second floor of the residence to the first floor doctor's office where he underwent a through examination that included use of a heart monitor.

His blood pressure and pulse were normal, Tubb said.

Bush has a lower-than-normal pulse rate, which doctors attribute to his rigorous workout regime. But Tubbs said that low heart rate made him more prone to fainting when the pretzel stimulated a nerve when it got caught in his throat.

He said Bush had complained Saturday and Sunday of "being a little off his game," feeling that he was coming down with a head cold.

White House spokesman Ari Fleisher said Bush intended to keep his regular schedule Monday, which includes an early morning trip to the Midwest.

LONDON

Prince Harry's experiments with liquor, marijuana made public in Britain

Associated Press

Britain's 17-year-old Prince Harry was taken to a rehab center after he admitted he had smoked marijuana and illegally drank alcoholic beverages, the first public embarrassment involving one of Princess Diana's children since her death.

The story, broken by yesterday's News of the World tabloid under the headline "Harry's Drug Shame," and all but confirmed by the royal family, dominated British print and broadcast news reports all day.

It also led to widespread speculation about what it will mean for the royal family and for Prince Harry, who could conceivably be expelled from Eton, the prestigious private school.

But given how many parents have faced similar problems with their teen-agers, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles won praise for the way he had dealt with Harry, who is third in line for the British crown after his father and brother.

Blair, whose son Euan, then 16, was arrested when police found him drunk and vomiting in London in July 2000, said Charles had faced a difficult situation.

"I know this myself," Blair told the British Broadcasting Corp. "I think the way that Prince Charles and the royal family have handled it is absolutely right and they have done it in a very responsible and, as you would expect, in a very sensitive way for their child."

Marijuana use is illegal and the legal drinking age in Britain is 18.

Harry, then 16, drank with friends at a pub last summer near Charles' Highgrove country estate in western England and smoked marijuana with friends, according to the media reports.

TUCSON

Health officials worried about possible flu outbreak in Arizona

Associated Press

Arizona health officials say there are signs that a major flu outbreak may be threatening parts of the West.

Colorado recently became the first state in the lower 48 to report "widespread" influenza cases. Cases in Utah are also jumping significantly, according to the latest survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"That is beginning to worry us. It's a little too close for comfort, and we're going to keep watching it," Ken Komatsu, an epidemiologist for the Arizona Department of Health Services, told the Arizona Daily Star.

"The flu season has been quite mild in Arizona so far - only sporadic, similar to last year. We haven't seen much of it in clinics or ERs and it hasn't kept kids out of school.

"But flu can go through March, so this is not over, by any means. Please tell people it's not too late to get a flu shot."

Within the state, Pima County has seen very little of the virus, with only four laboratory-confirmed cases, said a University of Arizona infectious disease specialist.

"A number that low at this point means we have almost no local flu," said Dr. Ziad Shehab. "It's pretty much nothing. But we're not out of the woods yet, not at all. People often think if it hasn't hit by now, it won't.

"Wrong. It could still crank up."

Arizona's flu season typically starts in late December and peaks in January, records show. Things actually got started early this year, with the state's first confirmed case reported in late November - a baby in Maricopa County.

"But very little happened after that," Shehab said.

That has been true throughout the nation, with 42 states, including Arizona, still reporting only "sporadic" flu cases.

Widespread flu was reported earlier in Alaska, but that outbreak has since subsided. Currently, the highest flu activity is occurring in Colorado, followed by Utah, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, according to CDC reports.

It has been a stroke of good luck that the nation skated by with so little flu this year and last - two seasons marked by a shortage and a delay in flu vaccine.