D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) has checked into Howard University Hospital under an assumed name and is being treated in the intensive-care unit for a bacterial infection with flulike symptoms, according to a spokeswoman.
Barry, 68, declined to accept phone calls or receive visitors yesterday. But his spokeswoman, Linda Greene, said Barry went to Howard under advice of his doctor after spending Tuesday night at Greater Southeast Community Hospital.
Both Greene and Barry's estranged wife, Cora Masters Barry, who was visiting him at the hospital late yesterday, said his condition does not warrant treatment in intensive care. Instead, they said, hospital administrators agreed to treat him in the closely monitored sixth-floor unit to ensure his privacy.
"The security is better," Greene said.
Barry, who served four terms as the city's mayor, took the oath for his council post just last week. He has suffered in recent years from a variety of serious illnesses, including high blood pressure, diabetes, anemia and prostate cancer, but Greene said none of those ailments was the culprit this week.
"On a scale of one to 10, it's a two," Greene said. "The flu is going around. . . . He had chills, fever, loss of appetite. He was just not feeling good. . . . We thought it could have been pneumonia because of the coughing, but it's not pneumonia."
According to Greene, Barry went to Greater Southeast on Tuesday night suffering from fever, chills and a cough. He stayed overnight and was released the next morning with medication.
Greene said she had assumed that Barry had spent much of Wednesday at home, sleeping and recovering. But yesterday Greene said Barry went home only briefly, probably to pick up clothes, before checking into Howard.
Greene said she was not aware that Barry was using an assumed name but added that it is not an uncommon practice among celebrities and other high-profile individuals. "It was not for a secret," Greene said. "A lot of times people do that so that they can have privacy and recuperate."
For similar reasons, Greene said, she did not feel it was necessary to alert the media or the public to Barry's hospitalization because she feared that people would bother the former mayor and deprive him of needed rest.
Barry isn't the only city official who has been laid low by illness. D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) has been out of the office since early this week and yesterday decided to cancel his weekend schedule, including events to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Mayoral spokeswoman Sharon Gang said Williams, 53, is suffering from bronchitis.
Barry, who was D.C. mayor from 1979 to 1991 and from 1995 to 1999, was elected to the council in November and sworn into office Jan. 2. His health had been a concern to supporters last year when he first considered running for the office. Last July, Barry said, "My health is good. . . . I'm raring to go. Energetic. Visionary. Courageous."
Yesterday, Greene said Barry is well on his way to recovering. She said his condition has improved so much that she is hopeful that he will be able to host the 27th annual Martin Luther King Jr. parade Monday.
"If he's discharged, we're going to have heat blowers on the platform," she said.
